695A.0024/4–2853
Memorandum by the Assistant Secretary of State for Far Eastern Affairs (Robertson) to the Secretary of State1
Subject:
- Sick and Injured POWs Not Returned by Communists.
With reference to Clark’s radio C 621362 which we have suggested be shown to you, we are concurring with the action proposed by Clark, i.e. in the next three or four days when sufficient evidence is available fully to support an unequivocal charge that Communists are violating their April 11 agreement to return sick and injured personnel, the UNC will call liaison group meeting at which the Communists will be challenged with the facts and the UNC will insist that all eligible prisoners be returned.
Except for the last sentence of paragraph C(3) [3c] and a few minor verbal changes we have approved the proposed statement by Admiral Daniel, Chief of the UNC liaison group.3 It appeared to us that the last sentence carried an implication that if the Communists returned additional sick and injured, the UNC would be prepared to continue armistice negotiations regardless of positions taken by the Communists in those negotiations. We therefore suggested that the following wording be substituted:
“If you fail to carry out in good faith the agreement of April 11 on this subject and your obligations under the Geneva Convention, the UNC can have no choice but to question your sincerity with respect to reaching and carrying out agreements on the broader questions confronting the armistice delegations.”