Evening star., 1953-04-21
Korea and Negotiations

Coincident with the heart-Warming ex-
change of sick and wounded prisoners of war;
the United Nations Command has agreed to
resume on Saturday - the long suspended
truce negotiations at Panmunjom. But this
news, encouraging though it iS does not guaran-
tee that there will now follow series of happy
events eliminating in a real peace settlement
for Korea and the Far East as whole. Actually
such a settlement probably is far way off, and
any optimism regarding it ought therefore to
be held very much in check.
Thus, to begin with, the resumed negotia-
tions will cover only one aspect of the problem
of peace in Asia. Senator Taft has suggested
that every effort should be made to settle all
Far Eastern issues - including Communist
threats to Indo-China and Malaya-"as part
of the Korean truce agreement" AS practical
matter, however assuming that the enemy
abandons his old demand for the forced repa-
triation of prisoners, the most that can be ex-
pected from the Panmunjom talks is an armiS-
tice whose terms can hardly encompass what,
Mr.. Taft has advocated.
President Eisenhower, as emphasized last
week in his great and eloquent appeal for world
peace, wants an honorable truce to be agreed
upon as a starting point. In his own words,
This means the immediate cessation of hos
tilities and the prompt initiation of political
tions in a united Korea. It should mean-no
less importantly-an end to the direct and in
direct attacks upon the security Of Indo-China
and Malaga. For any armistice in Korea that
merely released aggressive armies to attack
elsewhere would be fraud"
The same viewpoint has been stressed by
Secretary of State Dulles. The difference be-
tween it and the one voiced by Mr.. Taft seems
to be procedural, with Mr.. Taft apparently feel
ing that it might be wiser to enlarge the truce
negotiations into negotiations for a full peace
settlement. In the best of circumstances, how
ever, such settlement is going to be very hard
to achieve, and many months may have to be
Spent-perhapS futiely-in trying to persuade
the Communists to agree to It, in others words
Mr.. Taft'S idea-if adopted-might indefinitely
delay an armistice while both sides argued back
and forth over the larger and much more
complex issues bearing upon Asia's long-range
future.
What the President is seeking is an early
end to the bloodShed. Given that, given an
honorable truce, the next phase of action viii
be political conference to strive for settle
ment aimed at unifying Korea as an independ-
ent land and at guaranteeing the security Of
1ndo-China, Malaga and other parts Of free Asia.
Obviously, unless they have undergone COM
plete transformation for the better-a trans
formation not yet dlScern1ole-tne communists
are not going to be instantly agreeable and
cooperative on such matters They can be
counted upon, for example, to engage in pro-
tracted debate over Formosa's status and their
demand that Red China be admitted into the
United Nations.
Accordingly, even if truce is decided upon
within a matter of weeks, long time is likely
to pass before the Communists agree-if they
ever will agree-to the kind Of peace that Asia
needs and yearnS for. Meanwhile, during the
armistice, the free worlds armed forces will
have to stand guard over there while states
rnanship continues to seek a general settle
ment. That is why optimism must be restrained
today. The situation is not an easy one for our
side. However, unless we are prepared to. un-