Word: neutrality
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1950-1959
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...week long the negotiators in the little wood-and-matting house at Panmunjom disputed over what is a neutral nation. Sweden or Switzerland would not do. said the Communists, and seemed to prefer an Asian nation. Fine, said the U.N.: how about Pakistan? The Communists promised to think about it. But above all this haggling, one point was rising clear: to reach an armistice, one side is going to have to surrender its fundamental position on prisoner repatriation...
...rejected Switzerland as a suitable neutral custodian, apparently on no other ground than that the U.N.'s espousal of Switzerland ("a neutral status," Harrison said, "which is obviously unsurpassed") rendered that country unacceptable to the Reds...
...down in the conference hut at Panmunjom, the atmosphere was cold, correct and businesslike. There were no smiles, no nods, no handshakes. There had been prior agreement that prisoners willing to go home should be repatriated after a ceasefire, that others should be placed in custody of a neutral nation pending final disposition. Beyond that, there was no progress...
They rejected the U.N.'s proposal of a 60-day custody period, claiming that six months might be needed to persuade the North Koreans and Chinese that it was safe to go home. They rejected the U.N.'s suggestion that the neutral custodian should take over its charges in Korea, insisted that prisoners must be transported to the neutral country...
...apprehensions of the P.W.s about the question of their own repatriation," said he, "can only be eliminated after an appropriate time and after explanations are made to them by the side concerned." In other words, the whole purpose of postponing their release and of putting them in neutral custody is to give the Communists (and the Communists alone) a chance to "eliminate" their "apprehensions...