NO PEACE TREATY YET BETWEEN NORTH AND SOUTH KOREA

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30206, 10 August 1963, Page 8

NO PEACE TREATY YET BETWEEN NORTH AND SOUTH KOREA

Ten-Year-Old Armistice [From United Nations Command to N.Z. Army Information Service]

KOREA. ACROSS a green-topped table sit opposing players engaged in what may be described as the world’s longest game of “billiards.” Their table has a tightly stretched white cord down the middle to mark the boundary over which neither team dares to step.

It seems that they play their grim and dangerous “game” from Monday to Saturday; a game that makes Russian roulette into a kindergarten interlude.

*’ The match has been in prort gness now for ten years; but when the anniversary of the start of the "game” occurred on Saturday, July 27, it was no occasion for joy. Korea is still at war because a peace treaty has never been signed. North Korea and South Korea have made no moves to date that would lead to where a treaty f to end the longest armistice I in history is in sight. This is the ten-year-old Korean Armistice Agreement that also took longest to negotiate—two years, 17 days. )r and 255 meetings. Unlike three other armistices in this w century where the thrill and 10 drama of war's end occurred al with the confrontations in the railway coach in the Comy- piegne Woods (1918), at the ie Rheims schoolhouse (1945), se and on the battleship Mis•d souri in Tokyo Bay (1945), al the Korean agreement, after ;r the protracted deliberations, n, was signed in ten minutes of is stony silence in a building hastily erected only hours e- beforehand. to The signatories to the re cease-fire, the 16 members of ir the United Nations supplying 1- forces (including New Zeaof land) under United Nations ,11 Command and the North Korea forces with the Comls mumst China "volunteers,” le are the only groups upon II which the agreement is dirat ectly binding. It is a unique [ y document in that the Republic » s of Korea (South Korea), the ai country that suffers the war, d is not a party to the armisic tice. However it maintains strict compliance with the tj terms of the agreement. id South Korea’s to Attitude ie South Korea could not sign the armistice because it felt it would have put the Republic in the position where it agreed to the division of the peninsula into North Korea and South Korea. It would have meant its agreeing to the cutting in two of S a country whose unity goes

back to 650 A. D. The line passes through Parununjom, an old Korean village north-west of Seoul and just below the 38th Parallel, where the Military Armistice Commision set up under the terms of the Korean agreement has its headquarters. Terms of the truce include:— The setting up of a Military Armistice Commission and other agencies to negotiate any violation of the agreement real or alleged and to ensure adherence to truce terms. Repatriation of prisoners of war and displaced civilians. Supervision or replacement on a one-for-one basis of combat personnel, and item-for-item, type-for-type military equipment to keep the status quo. Establishment of the Military Demarcation Line to act as a buffer zone.

So the armistice applies only to the military forces in the area and the soldiers, though not engaged in active combat, oppose each other along a 151-mile Military Demarcation Line which, in spite of the United Nations Command’s attempts for unification. still exists today. This Military Demarcation Line wanders from the Han River estuary on the west coast of Korea through the the 39th Parallel on the east coast It is a 4000 metrewide no-man's-land with 1292 intermittently spaced signs witih warning notices on both sides of the board. South-facing sides are printed in Korean and English, with Korean and Chinese language on the other sides. There are ten members of the Military Armistice Commission, five appointed by each side, and it is upon their shoulders as they sit on either side of the green table that the future of Korea largely rests. It is across this green table, with its central white cord that forms an integral part of the Military Demarcation Line, that the ten-man Commission ■’meets” from time to time to investigate real or alleged reports

of violations of the armistice. These are the really dangerous times where wordsalvoes of communist propaganda through the agency of the North Korean representatives and endless harangues, if not effectively countered, could mean the end of the truce. Once the United Nations group would sit in cold and disdainful silence while' under fire, but now they "thump back” preventing the free propaganda ride that the Communists were beginning to enjoy. Potentially dangerous, if not as perilous, are the daily routine meetings that could at any time flare up into a full Council battle or worse.

From Monday to Saturday the secretaries of the respective sides confront one another to make routine reports, using protocol that is typical of the rigid and careful rules of “play.” A normal noon meeting is to occur on a Tuesday. Sharp at noon the United Nations Command secretary for the day enters from the south end of the oblong conference hut. At the same moment, the North Korean counterpart enters from his end Of the building. Advancing to the table at the same pace they sit simultaneously. No greeting nor word of recognition is passed. Since it is Tuesday it is the turn of the United Nations Command to speak first. (On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays the Communist uniformed secretary speaks first, whereas the United Nations representative speaks first on Tuesdays, Thursday and Saturdays.)

Strict Formality

Reports to be presented might concern a routine change in personnel that under the armistice terms must be agreed to by both sides before action can be taken. Our secretary would say. “We submit herewith report No ” The North Korean secretary would then submit his report. The three men on each side rise, still no word of recognition, and retreat through their respective entrances simultaneously. This meeting would last little more than two minutes.

relatively few visitors from the communist side. A visit to the area partly answers questons that many ask. “Why do the United Nations forces remain in Korea?” or “What is .the use of Military Armistice Council meetings?” Visitors can observe that the presence of the United Nations and the existence of the council aims to prevent further bloodshed and communist aggression. But one question still remains to be answered: “When will the Korean War end.”

This is the pattern that visitors, military or civilian, can witness through the observation windows of the conference hut. More than 10,000 of them see this sort of “pantomime" that represents t!ie real and dangerous ‘‘game” that has to be played each year. By applying to the United Nations Command Headquarters, permission to visit the Joint Security Areacan be obtained But there are