Evening star., 1952-10-09
The Korean Prospect

The outlook for a near-future Korean truce
has become bleaker than ever as result of the
new Chinese Communist attacks-the heaviest
in over year-on the hill positions guarding
the gateway to Seoul At the moment, militaruy
speaking, the enemy seems to have gained little
more than a very bloody nose, and the signs
suggest that he Is still loath to launch another
all-out offensive of the kind that him nothing
but terrible casualties in April and May of 1851.
In political sense however, by resorting once
again to large-scale assault operations, the
Pyongyang-Peiping-Mo Moscow axis appears to have
served blunt notice that it is in no hurry for an
armistce but is prepared, instead, to let the war
continue for many month to come.
In any event. even if they do not expand into
a full offensive it is safe to assume that these
new attacks have been made with definite
objective in the Communist mind, whether mill.
tary or merely propagandistic In all probability,
they have taken place in keeping with decision
reached at the recent Sino-Soviet conference in
Moscow, and If they do not foreshadow great
intenSification of the war, then they must surely
have an important political purpose whose nature
presumably will be revealed at the session of the
United Nations General Assembly opening in
New York next week. The Korean situation is
scheduled for a thorough-going debate there,
and the Kremlin is sending an unusually top
flight delegation-headed by Foreign Minister
Vishinsky-to take part In the circumstances,
there is some reason to suspect that the enemy's
latest operations may be designed primarily to
lend special emphasis to threatful Russian
harangues in the U. N.
However, regardless of what the Communists
intend to do, the United Nations command has
made clear that it will not retreat from the
position it has taken against the forced repatria-
tion of Red prisoners of war; scores of thousands
of whom are desperately afraid of being returned
to the territory of their masters This issue
which is supposed to be the only one blocking an
armistice-has brought about complete dead
lock because of the enemy's persistent refusal to
agree to face-Saving compromise, and as
result of that refusal our U. N. negotiators have
now decided on an indefinite recess in the talks
at Panmunjom. Thus, with the truce effort on
the verge of complete breakdown, our allied
side has left no room for doubt that it will not
yield on the matter. More than that, by beating
back the new attacks, it has demonstrated its
readiness to meet force with force and counter
any offensive with devastating frepower.
In this connection incidentally it is note
worthy that South Korean troops, who now total
100000 have played a brave and effective key
role in stopping the latest Chinese Communist
assaults. What they have done serves to point.
up Defense Secretary Lovett's indirect answer
ouSSCoOAOAA
American soldiers are bearing the brunt Of
ground fighting when that burden might better
be borne by the South Koreans. The fact is that
the latter-as Mr.. Lovett has reported-outnum-
ber our own men by about so per cent both In
the field and the front lines, and they have
taken casualties far exceeding those of all other
u N. forces combined. Further, in accord with
General Eisenhower's idea, our Army has long
been engaged in developing ever-growing num-
bers of them for combat "as rapidly as the
availability of equipment and the training OF
military leadership will permit"
But this program, even though it has already
permitted a withdrawal of numbers of other
u N. troops into reserve, is a long-range one.
1t does not allow for any early large-scale pull
back of American forces At the present
juncture with huge and threatening Chinese
Communist armies entrenched in Korea, the idea
of such pullback can scarcely be reconciled with
the harsh political and military realities. Ger
-tainly, before the South Koreans can safely take
over the whole burden of self defense, it would
seem indispensable to have an effective armistice
plus firmly guaranteed agreement on removing
all foreign troops. As to that the situation at the
moment looks almost hopelessly deadlocked, and
the Russians are not likely to improve matters
when they sound off in the General Assembly.