Evening star., 1951-12-28
45O Americans
Dead in Korean
Prison Camps
7% Of Coptives Not
On First POW List
Said to Be Victims
By the Associated Press

MUNSAN, Korea, Dec. 28.-The
I U. N. command said today at least
450 American soldiers have died
in North Korean prison camps.
An official communique said
that is II per cent of United
Nations troops known to have
been imprisoned in rear areas and
not accounted for in last week.
list of living prisoners.
simultaneously the Communists
indicated complete list of living
U. N. prisoners already is in Allied
hands.
The $50 soldiers were not
among those listed on the Com
munlSt roster of 1859 prisoners.
They apparently were among 57l
Americans the Reds said Wednes-
day had died of disease or were
killed by Allied air raids or artil-
lery fire.
Based on Reds Report.
The U. N. command said its
announcement was based on a
study of the Reds Wednesday
report.
I'VE must presume they died
in prison camps said Brig. Gen.
William P. Nuckols, official U.N.
spokesman. This is the first time
we have had knowledge of any
deaths in prison camps
North Korean Maj. Lee Sang
Cho hinted today at Panmunjom
that the Reds would report that
many other Americans, not yet
accounted for. had died of dis
ease or exposure in prison camps.
Rear Admiral r. E. Libby
quoted Gen. Lee as saying I'VE
must remember that Americans
are not accustomed to this climate
and are susceptible to local dis
eases, so it wouldn't be surprising
if large number died of disease. :"
No Increase in Toll.
The U. N. communique today
said:
"SeVenty-Seven per cent of the
UNC soldiers who were captured,
taken to rear area prison camps
and later announced by the Com
munistS as prisoners of war have
since died, an analysis of data re-
ceived on 26 December discloses.
OF the 585 men known to have
reached the rear. through later
broadcasts by them, letters to
their families, announcements in
Communist publications, and
through Geneva, $50 are now
dead"
The communique reference to
N per cent had no relation to the
list of 1859 prisoners announced
last week. 1t concerned only a
group of 585 men not listed there.
The Allied announcement in
creased neither the number of
known dead nor captured. 1t was
part of the U. N. effort to pinpoint
exactly what has happened to
every Allied soldier captured by
the Reds.
The U. N. command said it
knows that of 357 American SOL
diers for which the Reds still
have made no accounting, at least
135 reached rear area prison
camps.
No Further Accounting.
Aside from limiting at the fate
of American prisoners whose
names failed to appear on the
Red roster, Communist negotiators
offered no further accounting of
some $4,000 captured soldiers the
U. N. says have not been listed.
U. N. negotiators at Panmun-
JON again accused the Reds of
insincerity and stalling the truce
talks.
The Communists, in turn, de-
clared that Allied insistence on
banning a Red air buildup during
an armistice runs the "risk of
throwing overheard completely
the whole basis" of negotiations.
Red China's Peiping radio
quoted a Communist, negotiator
as telling U. D.. delegates at Pam
munjom: "If you want the nego-
tiations to continue, I must ask
you not to repeat such state
ments."
The Reds again refused to put
in writing an oral promise not to
build up their air strength during
an armistice.
While the war of words ragged
on without letup-and without
apparent decision-there was no
indication that the Korean battle
front was about to explode into
action even though the 30-day
Icease-fire line agreement had ex-
Ipired Thursday midnight.
Most observers expected the
twilight war" to continue for the
time being at least.
The truce subcommittee dis
cussing prisoner exchange con-
|tinued it's wrangling over prisoner
lists but reported no progress. The
delegates didn't even hold an
Afternoon session. - They sched-
|uled another meeting forll am.
Saturday % pm. EST FAay).