Korea - 50 years ago this week, Dec. 6-12

[Brooke Rowe <global-national-security@pacbell.net>]

Korea - 50 years ago this week, Dec. 6-12

(EXCERPT) U.N. negotiators stall, skirmishes continue, by Jim Caldwell

WASHINGTON (Army News Service, Dec. 5, 2001) -- U.N. negotiators
waited for further guidance from the Joint Chiefs of Staff as issues
of prisoner exchange and troop rotation dominated peace talks in Korea
50 years ago this week.

Dec. 6-12, 1951 -- At Panmunjom, the U.N. negotiating team is stalling
while waiting for instructions on how to proceed against the
communists. Adm. C. Turner Joy, lead negotiator, feels the communist
plan to have three to five neutral nations to form an armistice
inspection team might work. The communists insist the Military
Armistice Commission will deal only with the Demilitarized Zone. Joy
thinks that in order to retain the right to rotate troops after the
armistice, the United Nations can agree to drop claims to islands
north of the DMZ and keep the demand that no new airfields be built,
but allow existing ones to be repaired, as well as roads and
railroads. Gen. Matthew Ridgway, U.N. commander, does not want to
divide the authority between the neutral inspectors and the
commission. However, on Dec. 7, he asks the Joint Chiefs of Staff to
identify the points on which his negotiators cannot concede. It takes
the JCS until Dec. 11 to develop their plan, coordinate it with the
Defense and State Departments and then receive President Harry
Truman's approval. The instructions to Ridgway are to stand fast on
the issue of troop rotation. The neutral team must be agreed to by
both sides and U.N. troops will vacate the islands. The negotiators
cannot concede on new airfields, but if the issue of renovating
existing airfields becomes the last sticking point, they must get
further orders from the JCS. During those four days, U.N. negotiators
tried to convince the communists to allow a subcommittee to begin work
on Item 4, exchange of prisoners. The communists agree on Dec. 11.
Maj. Gen. Hsieh Fang also asks if his side concedes on the troop
rotation issue, would the United Nations agree to let one director
supervise the armistice. On Dec. 12 Joy presented the JCS proposals to
the communists. The islands will be returned and the communists agree
to troop rotation and replenishment of forces. There is no change on
the question of airfields. The neutral team will be agreed to by both
sides and it will be under direction of the MAC. Turner told Hsieh
that the whole package must be accepted or rejected. The communists
will study it overnight. The subcommittee on prisoners of war is
locked in a dispute. The communists want to exchange prisoners en
masse, while the U.N. bargainers want a one-for-one swap. On Dec. 11 a
U.N. plane strafed and bombed Kaesong, which is still neutral. No one
was injured and there was no damage. The next day Ridgway tells his
communist counterparts that the pilot will be reprimanded. Meanwhile,
the first phase of Operation Ratkiller proceeds. Task Force Paik,
named for ROK Lt. Gen. Paik Sun Yup, closes in on guerrillas in the
Chiri-san mountains. The Capital Division is marching north to meet
the 8th Division to catch guerrillas between them. National Police
units, youth regiments and security forces in the area are set up as
blocking forces in several locations. The division flush groups of 10
to 500, but there's no significant fighting. Along the front
patrolling and small skirmishes are the only military actions. The
Chinese are fortifying their positions. They have connected many of
the positions with tunnels. They've literally hollowed out some hills
to place artillery to cover natural approaches allowed by the terrain.
Korea takes on many of the characteristics of World War I, with both
sides dug in, facing each other, occasionally shelling each other and
sending out patrols. While the ground war is at a standstill, the
fighting goes on in the air. Dec. 6 marks the 11th straight day there
are jet fighter clashes. During the period, the Far East Air Force
claims a 14-4 edge in enemy kills. The U.N. losses occurred Dec. 1
when three Australian Comets and a U.S. Air Force F-80 Shooting Star
were shot down.

Dec. 10 -- Sgt. 1st Class Joseph C. Rodriguez, 23, San Bernardino,
Calif., is presented the Medal of Honor. It was earned May 21 after
only seven months in the Army. He staged a one-man grenade attack on
enemy positions near Munye. President Truman issues and executive
order giving the Federal Communications Commission authority to close
radio and televisions during an air attack on the United States.
Signals generated between 10 kilocycles and 100,000 megacycles are
"suitable for use as a navigational aid beyond five miles."

Dec. 11 -- The U.N. General Assembly's Political and Security
Committee announces that it will attempt to establish an Atomic Energy
and Conventional Armaments Committee consisting of the Security
Council members plus Canada. Its goal will be to develop means to
reduce and control atomic and other types of weapons.

Dec. 12 -- Gen. James A. Van Fleet, Eighth Army commander, told
reporters that the United States is training ROK officers and soldiers
so the ROK Army "can stand on its own two feet." Van Fleet and Ridgway
had bitter words with ROK government and military leaders on the poor
quality of its officers, which led to wholesale retreat before Chinese
forces during their offensives. Americans are training cadre using
U.S. Army training methods, as well as training officers and NCOs. 

http://www.dtic.mil/armylink/news/Dec2001/a20011205koreadec6-12.html

---------------------------
   Brooke Rowe
   Associate Librarian
   The American War Library
   http://www.americanwarlibrary.com