Evening star., 1953-11-29

meeting had no particular sig
nificance. official spokesman in
sisted But it took no skill to
guess that they we're seeking
agreement on reply to Commu-
mist demands that neutral ma
tions be invited to the projected
Far East political conference.
There also must have been talk
about possible action in late jan
uary if the POW problem is not
solved and the peace conference
if there is one-iS not making
progress.
There was no announcement on
the outcome of the Seoul talks.
Rhee and Chione
Immediately afterward, how
ever, Mr.. Rhee turned up in For
mosa for social" visit with
Chang Kai-shek Again the gen.
eral purpose of the talks seemed
clear: To agree on common action
if and when the peace negotiations
and/or the prisoner exchange
break down.
One interesting line of Specula-
ton was this: A high Chang ad-
wiser told The Star recently that
a three-prong attack on Red China
by South Korea, FormoSa and Indo-
China could stand good chance
of defeating Red China. And Mr..
Rhee told The Star that his pa
tience with the attempt at peace
full unification of his country would
run out late in January. He said
renewal of war at that time seemed
to be the only way to unity Korea.
The two anti-CommuniSt leaders
could be cooking up a two
pronged attack on Red China, or,
more likely, they could be prepar-
ing to threaten such an attack.
The threat then would be an ex-
cellent Rhee-type bludgeon to use
on the United States for more
American support for audacious
native" moves against Far East
Communists.
It was expected that the Orient'S
two leading enemies of communism
soon would, at the very least,
announce a military alliance
against the Reds.
President Rhee's sense of urgency
about preventing the Communists
from "colonizing" North Korea
must have increased following last
weeks announcement of Chinese
Red help to the North Korean
puppet government.
And President Chang is known
to feel that Red China's economic
and military development must be
upset in the next two or three
years if World War III is to be
avoided. He theories that Russia
will not go to war without a strong
China at its side. The way to pre-
vent worldwide war, Chang
thinks, is to keep Red China from
consolidating it's position-and,
incidentally, of course, to send
Chang back into power on the
mainland.
Ponmuniom
Meanwhile, a third get-together
in Korea made no progress. 1t was
the fifth week of negotiations at
Panmunjom between Mr.. Dean and
Communist representatives. They
were supposed to be planning
peace conference, but both sides
were waiting last week for lines
to be drawn on the neutral queS-
ton. Mr.. Dean indicated last week
the U. N. side might accept nom
voting neutrals provided RusSia'S
role is clearly that of Communist
partisan. The Reds last week were
still declining to elaborate on their
suggestion for invitations to neu-
trail nations.
POW ToIks
And still fourth set of con-
versations was completely stalled.
They were the explanation" Ses-
SionS for the reluctant prisoners
of war. The Communist side re-
fused to talk to the prisoners still
to be interviewed. The Neutral
Nations Repatriation Commission
worked on a report to the U. N.
describing the situation and rec
ommending a course of action.
The difficulty there, of course, was
in getting the Czech and Polish
SpokeSmen to agree with Switzer-
land, Sweden and India.
The American representatives in
the neutral zone indicated they
were getting ready to talk with
the prisoners who have refused to
come back home to the U. N. side.
The NNRC was asked to permit
Is men to conduct explanations
rather than the scheduled five.
The commission said no-the peace
treaty would not allow it.
American spokesmen said unoffi-
cially their explanations would be
short and sweet. There would be
no attempt to drag out the argu-
mentS and risk demonstrations of
the sort which humiliated the
Communist explainers. The men
would be told their. legal rights
and then be given a quick choice
of home or communism.