Evening star., 1953-07-10
-seibel, Richmond Times Dispatch.
"A String Tied to It."

therefore. strongly justifiable suspi.
cion that Rhee's objections are mill
tarily valid; for this is a military truce
and not a peace treaty that is being
arranged-it involves no such aban-
donment of war as an instrument Of
world policy as the White House has
asserted in the effort to diScredit
Rhee's moral position.
This suspicion involves the proba-
bility that the truce is being negotiated
by the Reds for the particular purpose
Of doing what was actually done when
they brought up prisoners for ex-
change and used them to shield mill
tary supply trains for the greatest
barrage Of the whole Korean war,
which has actually developed since
that exchange interfered with bomb
ing operations. Just so would truce
again interfere with such operations;
and just so does the UNO Yalu line
make 1t impossible for our armies to
move up to that line and still use aerial
attacks to disrupt supplies and enemy
aeria operations behind the troops in
the trenches. Alden Potter.
Our troubles with the obStreperous
little puppet, Syngman Rhee, point up
the folly of our becoming involved in
a military way with ill-assorted char
acterS in various far corners Of the
world. His regime was oppressive and
dictatorial from the beginning and was
unworthy of our support.
His present belligerence should be a
warning to us not to become involved
in military commitments. They are
called collective security" Actually
they are collective insecurity. since one
irresponsible. country-emboldene by
having strong allies-may be tempted
to throw its weight around until it
rocks and wrecks the bark of peace,
plunging us all into the atomic tide of
mid-20th century total warfare.
Our alternative to a dangerous net
work of entangling military alliances
consists in putting greater reliance on
constructive, peaceful methods. With
800 million and the intelligent CO.
operation of the Indian people we have
accomplished more in Southern Asia to
stop communism than we have in North
Korea with the sacrifice of billions of
dollars and the lives of our young men.
Alice Franklin Bryant.
X
It may be helpful. in considering the
efforts by Syngman Rhee to stave of
the permanent partition of Korea. to
recall the poem written late in 1914
by the EngliShman, A. P. Herbert, con-
corning the fate of Poland after World
War II:
Unreasonable" Poles, why do you
falter?
Be sensible-be realistic, pray.
Yours are the only frontiers that must
altar:
You are the one crusader in the way.
Unreasonable Poles, preserve tradition.
In just two centuries, you must allow.
You've thrice enjoyed benevolent
For Heavens sake, why start to
argue now?
The parallel is apt, since Poland, like
Korea, had long been dominated by
foreign rule; had established independ-
ence; had again been invaded, touching
of World War II in the case Of Poland.
Although that war was initially an at
tempt to free Poland from the German
invaders, the big powers afterwards
found it impractical to re-eStablish
unified Poland. Will the same be
true in Korea?
Leon Davidson.
It is not a truce we are asking. We
are pleading with the Communists to
accept our surrender. Are we not con-
ceding everything they ask, particularly
now since the prisoners have been re-
leased? Even here we had agreed to
leave the fate of prisoners to majority
vote of five nations-two small neutralS
living under the guns of the Kremlin
(Sweden and Switzerland). two Krem-
lin satellites poland and Czechoslova-
kia). and India, hostile to Korea and
more friendly with the Kremlin than
with any other country. M. T. X.