Evening star., 1951-10-09
The Reds Make a Concession

The concession made by the Chinese Com
munistS regarding a change of site for the
interrupted truce negotiations revives tagging
hopes for a resumption Of serious peace talks
in Korea. The fact that the Reds have agreed
to make any concession is important in itself,
for in the past they have expected the United
Nations to make all the concessions. This is
the first real evidence of reasonableness and,
possibly, of good faith that has come from the
enemy since the early days of the on-again-off-
again truce parleys.
It Is true that the concession Is a limited
one After the Communists broke of discussions
on August %, charging continued Allied viola
tionS Of the neutral zone around KaeSong, Gen.
eral Ridgway suggested that the meetings take
place at Songhyon, few miles to the east and
south The compromise site picked by the Com
munists, Panmunjom is near Songhyon. In his
prompt reply to the Reds offer General Ridgway
announced his acceptance in principle of the
proposal. A site In the Immediate vicinity" of
Panmunjom would meet, he said, the general
conditions he had laid down for an area where
there was equality of movement and control"
Immediate vicinity" could be interpreted as
including Songhyon, which is only mile away
from Panmunjom.
One hitch in the plan might be the Red
suggestion that the neutral zone around Kaesong
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truce headquarters is maintained, about IS miles
distant The difficulty with enlarging the neu-
trail zone IS that 1t enlarges the chances of such
accidental incidents as the admitted strafng of
Kaesong by U. N. plane and the excursion into
the neutral zone of South Korean sanitation
unit, armed only with DDT sprayerS The Reds
had charged numerous other violations of the
KaeSong area, all of which we had denied Gen.
eral Ridgway expressed the opinion that small
neutral zone around the new site ought to
suffice, plus an agreement by both sides not
to attack headquarters of the truce teams or the
roads leading to the SITE
Worth special note was the absence in the
Red offer Of any mention of earlier demands
that resumption of the talks must be condi-
toned on an agreement by the U. N to the
setting up of a system of dealing with alleged
violations Of the neutral zone-specifcally with
the trumped-up Communist charges of deiber-
ate and repeated attacks On Kaesong by Allied
planes. General Ridgway had fatty refused to
discuss "falses charges of neutrality violation.
The Reds spoke only Of discussing principles"
for guarding the security of the conference and
for setting up appropriate machinery" to guar
antee enforcement Of Specific and strict con-
ditions"
The first talks under the resumed program
beginning tonight will be for the purpose of
arranging details for resuming the stalled nego-
tiations. This preliminary conference should
throw light on how sincere the desire of the
Chinese Reds for a real truce may be. If they
mean business at last, they are assured of being
met half way by our negotiators II they are
up to their old tricks of deceit and delay, they
will find that Allied patience Is not inexhaustible.
General Ridgway has done well to make 1t plain
that we are ready to fight or to talk-which-
ever the enemy chooses to do.