Foreign Relations of the United States, 1951, Korea and China, Volume VII, Part 1

Lot 55D128: Black Book, Tab 7: Telegram

The Commander in Chief, Far East (Ridgway) to the Joint Chiefs of Staff

secret
flash

Tokyo, 7 August 1951—1:10 a. m.¹

C–68437. This msg in 8 parts.

Part 1. Following is the text received here at 060800K August of the English language broadcast from Peiping:

“General Ridgway:

“Your message to hand. Concerning the incident at 1300 hours on August 4, when in violation of the agreement a group of guards of our side belonging to the neutral zone of Kaesong carrying improper arms by mistake entered the area of the meeting place, our chief delegate ordered his liaison officer, Colonel Chang Chung San, to inform your delegation at 9:30 hours on the 5th how this came about, and in addition to make it clear that our chief delegate has again ordered the personnel responsible for the guards in the neutral zone of Kaesong to pay serious attention to the prohibition on guards entering the area of the meeting place, and to guarantee strict fulfillment of the order so as to prevent any recurrence of such an incident.

“In order that our meeting shall not be impeded by such accidental, minor incidents, we have once again ordered our guards in the neutral zone of Kaesong to obey strictly the agreement of July 14, and to guarantee that there will be no such violations of the agreement.

“We hope that on receipt of this reply, you will immediately order your delegation to come to Kaesong, and resume the meetings. Signed: Kim Il Sung, Supreme Commander of the Korean People’s Army; Peng Te Huai, Commander of the Chinese People’s Volunteers”.

Part 2. Following is an exact copy of the English language text of the official communication signed by Kim Il Sung and Peng Teh-Huai, and delivered to Colonel Kinney, UNC Liaison Officer at Pan Mun Jom at 060900K August: “August 6, 1951. Gen Ridgway: Your radio broadcast has been received.

“With regard to the infringement of the agreement by our guards in the Kaesong neutral zone in carrying inappropriate arms and inadvertently entering the conference area at 1300 hours, Aug 4, our senior delegate has instructed his liaison officer, Col Chang Chon San, to inform your delegation at 0930, Aug 5, as to how the incident occurred, and to inform your delegation that our senior delegate has again ordered the responsible officer of the guards for Kaesong neutral zone to adhere strictly to the regulation that no armed guards should enter into the conference area and to insure strict carrying out of this order so that similar incidents shall not occur again.

“In order that our conference will not be obstructed by accidental side issues, we have again ordered our guards in the Kaesong neutral zone to adhere strictly to the agreement of July 14 and to insure that incidents violating the agreement shall not occur again.

“We hope that after receiving our reply, you will immediately instruct your delegation to come to Kaesong to resume the meeting. Kim Il Sung, Supreme Commander of the Korean People’s Army, Peng Teh Huai, Commander of the Chinese Peoples Volunteers.”

Part 3. Following is translation made by our best translators here of the Japanese language broadcast from Peiping received here at 060630K August:

“General Ridgway:

“We have received your message.

“On the matter concerning the Kaesong area guard unit of our forces inadvertently entering the conference area carrying improper weapons at 1300, 4 August, in violation of our agreement, the chief delegate on our side had already ordered our liaison officer, Colonel Chang Chung San, at 0930, 5 August, to report to your delegation the details of the occurrence of the most recent incident which was in violation of our agreement, and at the same time it was ordered that your delegation be notified that the chief delegate of our side had carefully called attention of the officers in charge of the Kaesong neutral area guards to the fact that the guards must not enter the conference area, and that they had been further ordered that they strictly follow this order to make sure that such an incident will not recur.

“In order that our conference will not be obstructed by such accidental trivial incidents, we have again ordered the guard unit of the Kaesong neutral zone to adhere strictly to the agreement of 14 July and to assure against recurrence of such a violation of the agreement.

“We desire that immediately upon receipt of this reply you order your delegation to proceed at once to Kasong for resumption of the negotiations.

“Signed: Kim Il Sung, Supreme Commander of the Korean People’s Army and Peng Te-Huai, Commander of the Chinese Volunteers.”

Part 4. It is to be noted that the final paragraph of the English text of both the broadcast and the written message is of temperate tenor and language. The same passage in the Japanese text is insolent in tone and peremptory in tenor. Whether this difference is due to translation is partially in doubt. It is, however, a tenable theory that translation did not enter into it, that the difference was deliberately done to give Asiatic hearers the impression that they, the Communists, were dictating to their vanquished UN enemies.

Part 5. I wish respectfully to invite attention at this point to a few salient facts.

The armistice talks are military. They are neither political nor diplomatic. Hence, in these discussions, the language of diplomacy is inappropriate and ineffective.

The discussions are between soldiers. ½ of them are Communists who understand only what they want to understand; who consider courtesy as concession and concession as weakness; who are uninhibited in repudiating their own solemn obligations; who view such obligations solely as means for attaining their ends; who attained to power through murderous conspiracy and who remain in power by that and other equally infamous practices.

To sit down with these men and deal with them as with representatives of an enlightened and civilized people is to deride one’s own dignity and to invite the disaster their treachery will inevitably bring upon us.

I propose to direct the UNC delegation to govern its utterances accordingly and while remaining, as they have, scrupulously factual and properly temperate in word and deed, to employ such language and methods as these treacherous savages cannot fail to understand, and understanding, respect.

Part 6. The enemy capability for major offensive action continues to increase. Indications multiply of his deliberate intention to employ these armistice discussions for the purpose of gaining time in which to prepare for and to increase the chance of success of major offensive action. My estimate, on which the foregoing statements are based, is contained in my C–68428 of this date, forwarded separately.²

Part 7. Subject to your contrary instructions, I now plan to broadcast the following message at the earliest practicable moment:

“I have received and noted the contents of your message of 6 August. You state that orders have again been issued to your Kaesong area guards to adhere strictly to the regulation that no armed guards would enter the conference area; in order that incidents similar to that of 4 August will not occur again.

“I have also noted that you describe such incidents as minor, accidental and trivial. Such incidents are of fundamental importance, as I have before pointed out. The incidents are neither minor nor trivial and their accidental nature remains in doubt. Their re-occurrence will not be tolerated.

“The statement that orders to your Kaesong guards have again been issued indicates that your original orders were believed adequate to insure compliance with our agreement of 14 July. The appearance of elements of your armed military forces in the immediate vicinity of the conference area on 4 August indicates either gross carelessness in the execution of your obligations, or your inability to compel compliance by your troops with your own orders. Since the only armed forces in the neutral area were to be those required for military police functions, it is somewhat difficult to understand why mortar and machine-gun squads, with their equipment, were present in the unit violating your agreement. Photographs are hard to refute.

“Your carelessness in such a matter is of grave significance. Your violation of agreed neutrality justifies the conclusion that your assurances are unreliable. While actually demonstrating the unreliability of these assurances, you continue to propose that the United Nations Command accept indefensible positions during an armistice. You urge that it give up strong defensive positions, and that it rely for the security of its forces on your mere verbal assurances of good intent. I no longer accept such assurances.

“You have not taken satisfactory measures to prevent recurring incidents in the neutral area. Resumption of negotiations under these conditions which you have allowed to exist is unacceptable.

“I therefore propose that a joint inspection team, consisting of 3 individuals designated by you and 3 designated by me, be organized to perform joint inspections of the Kaesong neutral zone in order to guarantee against recurrence of these violations.

In the event you do not agree to the formation of such a joint inspection team, and to accord it free movement within the Kaesong neutral zone, I shall insist upon a new site for the resumption of negotiations where the United Nations Command can and will guarantee against the violation of neutral areas established by agreement.

“My liaison officers will be prepared on receipt of your reply to discuss the necessary details.”

Part 8. Your comments on part 7 are requested soonest.³

1. Due to the time difference between Tokyo and Washington, this message was received in Washington during the middle of the day on August 6.
2. Not printed.
3. An interim response from the Joint Chiefs of Staff on August 6 directed General Ridgway to withhold his proposed broadcast pending further consideration in Washington, to which Ridgway agreed. (Telegrams JCS 98189 and C–68438; Black Book, Tabs 10 and 11)