Cold Armistice

One day last week, a Communist observer idly scuffed at a mortar shell lying in the demilitarized zone. Alarmed, a U.N. observer turned to an interpreter and made the following statement, which was duly taken down, delivered, and made a part of the official record: "Our side believes that this object, which personnel of your side have been kicking, is an unexploded live round. In order to protect both sides, our side requests that personnel of your side stop this action."

With such icy propriety and protocol, the bureaucrats of the armistice last week went about their ticklish jobs.

P: Neutral nation inspection teams (from Switzerland, Sweden, Poland and Czechoslovakia) set out for the five ports of entry on each side, where they will try their very best to make sure that neither army uses the armistice to build up its forces.

P: Red Cross observers inspected P.W. camps on both sides; later the Communists complained that their Red Cross officials had been "obstructed" by the U.N. command, and U.N. officials learned that U.N. P.W.s still in Chinese hands had been carefully screened by the Communists before being allowed to talk to the visitors.

P: An advance party from India, which will supervise and guard P.W.s who don't want to go home, listened 'implacably to briefings in Pyongyang and Tokyo, impressed U.N. officers with its determination to enforce the armistice agreement objectively.

At the stony meetings of rival belligerents on the Military Armistice Commission in Panmunjom, the Communists lodged 44 complaints of armistice violations, seriously pressed only one charge: an accusation that "bandits" representing Rhee and Chiang Kai-shek are being used to "intimidate" and "forcibly detain" Chinese and Korean prisoners. The factual basis to their charge: before they are moved north into neutral Indian custody for "explanations" by the Communists about why they should return home, anti-Communist prisoners are being reassured of their rights and opportunities. Chiang Kai-shek's picture, a statement in his name assuring Chinese prisoners of a welcome to Formosa, and personal talks by Nationalist Chinese are a conspicuous part of this procedure.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.