Evening star., 1953-06-29
Gen. CIork's Letter to Reds

ing what assurances there may
be for the implementation Of
the armiStice agreement on
the part Of South Korea. It
is necessary here to reiterate
that the armiStice which wo
seek is a military armistice
between the commanders of
both sides and involving the
forces available to the COM
manderS of both sides.
1t is recognized that certain
provisions of the armistice
agreement require the co-op-
Grafton Of the authorities Of
the Republic of Korea. You
are assured that the United
Nations Command and the in
terested governments con-
cerned will make every effort
to obtain the cooperation Of
: the government of the .Repub-
lie of Korea. Where necessary
the United Nations Command
will, to the limits of its ability.
establish military safeguards to
ensure that the armiStice terms
are observed.
Our willingness to do. this
should be apparent to you by
the concurrence which we have
given to those portions of the
terms of reference which re-
quire the United Nations Com
mand to take certain action
to insure the safety and Sc
curity of the neutral nations
reparation commission and its
personnel.
1t is regrettable that you
choose to allege that the
United Nations Command con-
nived in the escape of the pris-
oners. Besides being contrary
to the obvious facts, such &C
cuSation tends to obstruct
rather than to facilitate an
armiStice agreement. The
United Nations Command is
continuing its efforts to re-
cover the prisoners of war who
have escaped. 1t would be un-
realistic. however, and mis-
leading to imply that an ap-
preciable number of these
prisoners could be recovered
now that they have disap-
peared among the population
which is disposed to shelter
and protect them. You un-
doubtedly realize that the re-
covery of all these prisoners
would be as impossible for us
as it would be for your side to
recover the $4,000 South Ko-
rean prisoners released" by
your side during the course of
hostilities. You. of course, un-
derStand that the cessation of
hostilities will facilitate the
return of the escaped Korean
prisoners of war to your side
if they are not opposed to such
return. Under the provisions
of Paragraph SO of the draft
armistice agreement. the es-
capped prisoners of war can
proceed to your side if they
SO desire after the armistice
becomes effective.
Following the signing of an
armiStice, the exchange of
those prisoners of war who de-
sire repatriation will involve
the 10000 of our personnel
reported by you in April, 1852,
plus the additional ones cap
tured since that date and
now in your hands, as COM
pared with about $4,000 of
your personnel. including ap-
proximately q, $4,000 Koreans.
now in our hands, whom we
are prepared to return to you.
This letter is an earnest ef-
fort by the United Nations
Command to acquaint with
you the facts. 1t is suggested
that the delegations meet i'm
mediately to exchange in
formation as to the time at
which respective componentS
of the Neutral Nations Super
visory Commission can be pre-
pared to function in order
that an effective date for the
armistice may be established
and, on receipt of that infor-
nation the armistice agree
ment as has been developed by
our respective delegations be
signed.
MARK w. CLARK,
General, United States Army.
Commander in Chief, United
Not;o1oc Tov,1ypoord