Evening star., 1951-07-11

South Korea. -. Southern KoreaI
and the nations which are pledged
to defend 1t would therefore be
forced to live in constant suspense
under the continuing threat of a.
further Communist attack at a
time opportune to them.
But at this point some one is
likely to object that officials of
the United Nations would be able
to inspect the area north Of the
boundary and either prevent such
Communist forces from being built
|up or give us ample warning IL
they were.
"This I submit is fantasy.
The Communists have never per-
Imitted U. N. inspectors or agents
within their borders. =.
Even if they agreed to such
international inspection as con-
dition of the cease-f1re, we could
not rely on their keeping this
agreement, without a U. N. army
of occupation north of the 38th
degree line to enforce it. In the
meantime we would have laid
down our arms and it would be
hard to take them up again. -.
Impossible to Defend.
III. The second weakness of
the 38th Parallel Is that it is
almost impossible to defend. It
is a wholly artificial line approx
imately $50 miles dong with few
or no Typographical strong points
for defense. 1t was chosen in
1945 either accidentally, or be-
cause it had previously marked
the zone of influence Of Czarist
Russia. Since we are still deter
mined to resist aggression and
have had conclusive proof of the
danger Of such aggression from
North Korea. we cannot content
ourselves in restoring the inde-
fensible former line in the pious
hope the Communists will not do
lit again.
iii. But most important of all,
the adoption of the 38th Parallel
as the dividing line would inevi-
tably be turned into a great
propaganda victory for the Chi
nese Communists. They would
proclaim throughout Asia that
they had drive nour forces and
those of the U. N. from our posi-
tions of last November back to the
38th Parallel and that they had
won a crushing victory. Instead
Iof losing face" they would gain
lit. :.
"Our prestige is already being
weakened by sending emissaries
under the protection, of the white
flag into the Communist held
town of Kaesong to negotiate
truce. These men have been fire.
quently photographed by the
Communist news photographers
who were on hand and posters of
their entrance will soon be dis
Itributed all over Asia. Since the
white flag is the symbol of sur
render as well as of a truce, such
photographs will be hailed in the
absence of other facts as proof
positive. that the Chinese Com
munists have won and we have
lost the war in Korea. I want
to make it clear that / do not say
that an armistice at the 38th
Parallel would actually be a de-
feat. But I do want to emphasize
that. 1t will be so interpreted in
Ashland by some elements in
our own country.
Senator Suggests Alternatives,
For all these reasons. I SUBJ
init that in the long-run inter-
ests OF peace and of preventing
the renewal of aggression there,
we should not make the 38th
Parallel the dividing line betWeen
the two forces, but that it should
If possible be fixed appreciably
to the north Of this.
Il would tentatively suggest (l)
that the line should run across
the so-called neck. of Korea.
approximately 100 miles north of
the 38th and between Anshu and
Eiko; (2) that the power plants
on the south bank of the Yalu
River and the transmission lines
through Korea should at the
same time be put under U. N.
control, and 90 that in the long
run, we should strive for COM
pletely united Korea free of any
outside domination. which was