Madison County Democrat. (London, Ohio) 19??-1958, 1951-12-28
u. n. Command Reports $50
Soldiers Died In Prison
MUNSAN, KOREA, Dec. 28


LR,-The II. N. command said TO-
day at least $50 American sold
iers have died in north Korean
prison camps.
An official commlmique said
that is n per cent Of United Ma
tons troops known to have been
imprisoned in rear areas and not
accounted for in last weeks list
of living prisoners.
simultaneously the communists
indicated a complete list of living
u. N. prisoners already is in
allied hands.
The $50 soldiers were not
among those listed on the com
munist roster of 1859 prisoners.
They apparently were among ST.
Americans the Reds said Wednes-
day had died of disease or were
killed by allied air raids or artil-
lery fire.
The u. N. command said it's
announcement was based on
study of the Reds Wednesday re-
port.
we 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. Gen. Lee
Sang Cho limited Friday at Pan
munjom that the Reds would re-
port that many other Americans,
not yet accounted for, had died
of disease or exposure in prison
camps.
Rear Adm. r. E. Libby quoted
as saying we must remember
that Americans are not accustcm-
ed to this climate and are suscep-
tible to local diseases, so it
wouldn't be surprising if large
number died of disease"
The u n. communique Friday
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
received on 26 December disclos-
es. OF the 585 men known TO have
reached the rear, thrsugh later
broadcasts by them, letters to
their families, announcements in
communist publications, n d
through Geneva, $50 are now
dead"
The communique reference to
IT 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 Fri
day increased neither the number
of known dead nor captured. 1t
was part of the u. N. effort to
pinpoint exactly what has hap
pened to every allied soldier cap
tured 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
Aside from limiting at the fate
of American prisoners whose
names failed to appear on the
Red roster, Communist negotiat-
ors offered no further accounting
of some $4,000 captured soldiers
the u. N. says have not been list
ed.
II. 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 dur
ing an arnistice runs the risk
of throwing overheard completely
the whole basis Of negotiations
Red China's Peiping radio quot
ed a communist negotiator as
telling U. n. delegates at Pan
munjom: IF you want the nego-
tiations to continue, / rlust ass
you not to repeat such state
ment"
The Reds again refused to put
in writing an oral promise not to
build UP their air strength dur
ing an arnistice.
While the war of words rage
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 3O-day
cease-fire line agreement had ex-
pired Thursday midnight.
Most OBSERVERS expected the
twilight war to continue for the
time being at least.
SURGERY PATIENT