Word: truce
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Twice more last week the Communists backed down-just when it looked as if the Korean truce talks were verging on total collapse...
...Communists had already admitted the illegal presence of their armed soldiers in Kaesong. Matt Ridgway insisted that he would resume the talks only if the Reds clearly understood that further violations would end the truce talks automatically. After digesting this for 52 hours, the Reds sent another message. The key paragraph: "It is inconceivable that there will be any further failure on our part to comply . . . unless you should deliberately fabricate incidents as an excuse to terminate the armistice negotiations." U.N. strategists ignored the insults, accepted the "inconceivable" assurance...
...targets had flown over Kaesong (true, but not covered by any agreement); that allied gunfire was audible in Kaesong (true, but the guns were being fired outside the neutral zone); that the allies were using poison gas (untrue). Their most serious charge was that one of their white-flagged truce trucks had been fired on by allied planes. Joy did not deny that, but he pointed out that the alleged attack took place considerably east of the main Pyongyang-Kaesong road, suggesting that the Reds were "abusing the use of white markings...
...humbly begging for peace. But the tone of their propaganda had changed to one of whining complaint. They now accused the U.N. of being autocratic and arbitrary. When, during the five-day lapse, the Peking radio accused Ridgway of refusing to set a date for resumption of the truce talks, even illiterate peasants could reason that, if Ridgway could turn the talks off & on at will, it was he who had the whip hand...
Almost to a man, the troops seemed to admire Ridgway's handling of the truce negotiations, but groaned profanely every time the talks stalled. "Here we go again," some said, adding their personal cuss words. No one doubted that the Eighth Army, the most effective and self-confident army the U.S. has ever fielded, would fight angrily, hard and well if called on again...