Evening star., 1951-07-01
Evidence So Far Hints Cease Fire Proposal
Is Genuine; Chino's Role Remoins Mystery


full to say. His recorded speech was
to be the 18th in a U. N.-sponsored
radio series called "The Price of
Peace" It was to 60 on the air
in English for America and re-
broadcast via shortwave over most
of the world-at Sis pm, Sat
urday. June %, almost on the eve
Of the Korean wars first anniver-
Sary.
Previous speakers on this series
had supplied the press with copies
of their talks several days In ad-
vance. Not Mr.. Malik. His delega-
ton staff announced reporters
would get their first look at his
English text when the broadcast
began. In the end, they relented;
copies of the speech were handed
out in the U. N. press room two
hours before the broadcast.
For six hours Friday-and an
other three hours on Saturday
Malik had sat before a microphone
in the Soviet delegation's Park
avenue Office. etching his words on
the recording tape. It was his
first attempt at a public address
lin English-the heavy-accented
syllables came out clear but slow.
A few cuts were made to bring the
speech down to size.
The speech. as it went out, took
exactly IA minutes and rs sec
onds. The IA minutes consisted
of standard viliflcation of the for
Ieign policy of the United States
and her allies, with particular
regard to the Korean war. The
I25 seconds were something else
again.
Whot MoIik Said
"The Soviet people," Malik said,
believe that the most acute prob
lem of the present day-the prob
lem Of the armed conflict IN Korea
could :. be settled.
This would require the readi-
ness of parti' to enter on the
path of a pes.Xful settlement Of
the Korean question. The Soviet
peoples believe that as a first
step discussions should be started
between the belligerents for a
cease-flre and an armistice pro-
viding for the mutual withdrawal
of forces from the 38th Parallel" I"
What was it about these words
that caused such stir around the
world? Similar proposals had been
made many times before. Trygve
Lie, the U. MS secretary general,
had called for a cease-f1re near
the 38th Parallel in a speech at
Ottowa, June /. Secretary of State
AcheSon had told a Senate COM
mittee we would consider such a
settlement a victory. In the dark
days of last December. the same
idea had been advanced by us and
by the British, to no avail. A
cease-f1re plan of the neutral
Arab-Asian bloc got nowhere.
No, there was nothing new about
Malik's words. Their whole signif1-
canoe lay in the fact that this was
Russia speaking. Russia, it is
true, had had discussed the pos
sibility Of a cease-flre before
but it had been one in which the
firing would cease after our troops
were withdrawn from Korea, and
Red China had been given For
mosa and seat in the U. N. This
time. no such prior conditions
hedged the talk of truce.
The questions which suggested
themselves were many. What did
the Russians mean by "aggres-
sors"? What, for that matter, did
they mean by a "cease-f1re"? 1t
was to get the answers to queries
like these that the Iranian Am
bassador to Washington, Naz-
rollah Entezam. president of the
U. MS General Assembly and
chairman of it's good Offices COM
mittee, Immediately began trying
to nail down an appointment to
talk with. Mr.. Malik. He found
the Russian suffering from a Sc
we're diplomatic Illness" unable
to elucidate.
A few were unperplexed. Sec
retary General Lie, vacationing in
Oslo, was sure the Russians were
| in earnest. AS he made arrange
ments to fly back to New York to
help with the negotiations. Mr.
Lie voiced the first concrete for
mula for procedure. "A cease