Evening star., 1952-05-13
The Damage Done on Koie

The Damage Done on Koie
What has happened at the prison camp on
Koje Island adds up to an unhoy mess.
American prestige has been hurt. At the same
time the Communists at Panmunjom and else
where have won big victory in the propaganda
field. General Mark Clark. who has just assumed
his new duties as supreme commander of the
United Nations in Korea, merits sympathy He
is not going to have an easy time repairing the
damage that has been done.
In terms of concrete special privileges, it
may be that Brigadier General Dodd is right
in declaring that his Communist captors have
received concessions of only minor impor-
tance" In exchange for releasing him unharmed.
1t may be true, too, as General Clark has
intimated, that the concessions will never
actually be granted because they have been
made in response to "unadulterated blackmail"
and because blackmailers have no legal or moral
right to the things they extort. Be that as it
may, however, the fact remains that the Red
war prisoners on Koje have succeeded in putting
on show that has covered the u N. command
with embarrassment of the first magnitude
the sort of thing that the Kremlin and its puppet
propagandists can be counted upon to exploit
to the utmost
AS negotiated by Brigadier General Colson-
on Koje-three concessions have been made
to meet the propaganda-laden "blackmail"
demands. In and of themselves none of the
concessions seems to amount to much One
agrees to recognize and cooperate with "com-
mission" OF representatives chosen by the pris-
oners from their own numbers-an arrangement
that looks harmless enough. The second promises
that everything possible will be done to eliminate
future violence on the island-a promise which
merely aff1rn1s that the U. NJ will continue its
humane treatment under the Geneva conven-
tion. And the third says that there will be no
"forcible screenings or any rearming" of the Red
captives-an assurance that appears to have little
meaning in view of the fact that there has been
no such "rearming" and that every captive has
already been screened-without force, of course
through interviews to determine his attitude
toward the idea of being returned.to Red control.
However, even though these concessions may
thus seem to be of minor Importance" at FIRST
glance, second glance shows how they can be
distorted into evidence" that the United Nations
has confessed to mistreating prisoners in the
past. Certainly, it takes little Imagination to
visualize how the Red propagandists are likely
TO make use OF such statements as the following,
which General Colson is reported to have
addressed to the Koje desperadoes: II do admit
that there have been instances . i. . where many
prisoners OF war have been killed and wounded
by U. NJ forces will do all within my power
to eliminate further violence and bloodShed
If such incidents happen in the future, will be
responsible" Needless to say, the enemy's lie
machine will not balance those words with
General Clark's incontrovertible assertion that
the islands troubles in recent weeks have
resulted from "the deliberate and planned machi-
nations of unprincipled Communist leaders"
bent on disrupting the camps orderly operation
and embarrassing the u. N. command y y
It Is possible, Of course that the Koje
situation has been handled in about the only
way it could have been handled once General
Dodd was seized as hostage-the only way,
that is, short of resorting to immediate force
and thus imperiling the generals life and risking
the possibility of brutal retaatory action against
American and Allied prisoners in Communist
hands. With that consideration in mind, the
American people will have some cause to temper
their criticism of what has happened. But
they cannot be blamed if at the same time they
demand to know how conditions at the camp
notorious for its unruliness-reached point
where the captives were able to get their hands
on the top commander to force the u. N. into
humiliating ransom deal of great propaganda
value to the Reds.
Presumably, the investigation into the mat
ter will be as thoroughgong as possible Neither
our own country nor the United Nations can
afford any more such monumental fiascos.