Evening star., 1951-09-16
Koesonq

More than two months have
passed now since Jacob Malik's
peace feeler, and the out
look for a cease-flre in Korea is
almost unrelievedly black. Kae-
song, throughout the truce talks,
has been place of few accomplish
ments. In the last three weeks,
there have been no accomplish
mentS at all. Not one meeting has
been held since the Communists
called halt August % on the basis
of alleged violations by U. N. forces
of the neutrality of Kaesong.
Since conversations opened July
10, there have been 26 meetings for
a total of just under go hours.
Practically nothing has been ac-
complished. The only item agreed
upon to date is a f1ve-point agenda
"a list of items to be discussed.
And since point No. on the agenda
was adoption of the agenda," in
reality there were only four real
things to talk about.
It took the confereeS rs hours
and 4 minutes to agree on the
agenda. In 16 subsequent meet
ings between July u and August 16,
the two sides did not even arrive at
the dickering stage of point No. 2:
Fixing a military demarcation line
between both sides so as to establish
a demilitarized zone as basic con-
dition for a cessation of hoStilitieS
in Korea"
Subcommittee Trial
When the top-level delegates
failed to make progress on the
buffer zone issue, subcommittee of
lower-ranking officers were tried
out. It seemed a hopeful move, but
between August 16 and %. subconl-
mittee meetings were without ap-
preciable result.
Then, on August %, the Commu-
niStS called off all talks until the
U. N. gave satisfactory explana-
ton" of bombing and straf1ng at
tacks on KaeSong. Gen. Ridgway,
the U. N. commander. denied until
last Tuesday that there had been
any such raids. Then he admitted
one, which he said was inadver-
tently carried out the day before
last Monday.
There was hope for a while that
the Communists, who had had to
back down earlier and admit SINH
lar U. N. charges, might save face
by calling the Allied admission of
one violation an admission of all.
This, it was hoped, might get the
talks back off the sidetrack. But
If the Communists have plans to
accept the U. N. answer, they have
given no hint of them. Their only
word to date is that Gen. Ridgway's
Tuesday message is unacceptable"
The fighting in Korea continues,
meanwhile, although at Slackened
pace.
The Skirmishes, to be sure, have
added up to a sizable casualty list
nearly 700 American dead, almost
5000 wounded, proportionate cas-
ualtieS elsewhere on the u. N. side,
and thousands of Reds killed,
wounded and captured. If, in some
unexpected development, the truce
talks begin again, and if the fight
ing continues as it has, there will be
many more casualties. For even if
there should be resumption of talks,
there obviously are many more Ses-
sions ahead before peace can come
out of KaeSong-if indeed it ever
does.
Big Issues Untouched
The buffer-zone issue is a big
one and until it is settled nothing
else can be discussed. But aSSum-
ing it is settled, a still tougher
problem confrontS the negotiators:
Concrete arrangements for the
realization of cease-fire and armi-
stice in Korea, including the compo-
Sition, authority and functions of a
supervising organization for carry
ing out the terms of a cease-fire
and armiStice."
EnviSioned here is some kind of
an international inspecting team to
referee the buffer zone and make
sure both sides keep the peace. Ever
since the talks began, it has been
predicted that the Communists
bitter hatred of outsiders would
prove a major stumbling block not
only to the settlement Of this ques-
tion, but to the conference as a
whole.
To say the least, the chances OF
success at Kaesong look far simmer
than the chances Of failure. It is
fairly evident that the present
stalemate-the suspension of talks