Word: 38th
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...calling him "Stonewall Joy." Also from the Communist radio came the first hints of a compromise. Their position was "not inflexible," the Reds said: "adjustments" were possible and the "first steps" toward peace had been taken. Presumably these adjustments meant that the Chinese would abandon their insistence on a 38th parallel cease-fire line, and agree to some kind of defensible military lines for both sides, as the U.N. has urged all along...
...Silence. When, after a five-day lapse (longest so far), the teams faced each other again in Kaesong, the Reds trotted out their moth-eaten demands for a buffer zone along the 38th parallel, as if they were brand-new. Admiral Joy made it clear that his side still insisted on a more defensible line, approximating present battle positions, but that he was willing to discuss some compromise. One day, after Joy had stated his position, Nam II sat silent for two hours and eleven minutes, chain-smoking through his curved cigaret holder, fidgeting and looking at his watch...
This outburst apparently shook the Reds. Next day, Nam mildly produced a map, 2½ by 4 feet, and passed it across the table. The markings clearly showed that the Reds understood the U.N. requirements. The 38th parallel was in its proper place and so were the present front-line positions, only slightly distorted in the Communists' favor. This week the Reds were still obdurate. But Nam, who had stalked angrily out after an earlier session, was nervously agitated, like a gambler worried by his declining pile of chips...
...week at the Kaesong conference table ended as it began, in deadlock over the problem of where to draw the ceasefire line. The U.N. stood fast for a buffer along the actual front-line positions; the Reds stuck to their demand for a buffer zone straddling the 38th parallel. Day after day, both sides presented "clarifications" of their aims. Repeating the U.N.'s view that the parallel is an insecure defense line, Admiral Joy three times asked North Korean General Nam II, chief Communist delegate: "Do you or do you not agree that the security of his forces...
...produced two maps showing the demarcation line the U.N. wanted. He and Nam II bent over the table, their heads almost touching as they studied the maps. The two sides clashed almost immediately. The Communists wanted to draw the demarcation line along the old North-South Korean boundary, the 38th parallel. If they could swing this, they would be able to trumpet to the world that the war had ended where it began; it would also win for the Reds much valuable real estate, for U.N. units in spots are now as much as 35 miles north of the parallel...