Many More North Koreans Are Being Taken Prisoner

Wanganui Chronicle, 1 September 1950, Page 5

Many More North Koreans Are Being Taken Prisoner

TOKIO, Aug. 21 (Recd. 5.30 pm-. One thousand North Korean Communist soldiers have surrendered or been captured by the United Nations forces in Korea in the past fortnight, providing what observers hope may be one of the first symptoms of a North Korean* Army collapse.

The rate of flow of North Koreans into the prisoners-of-war compound in South Korea has jumped significantly recently. On August 15 there were only 575 Communist prisoners in the rear compound, but by August 28 the total had snowballed to 1577.

The prisoners, clothed and fed according to Geneva Convention standards, are busy adding a new block to their existing camp under the supervision of two American engineers. As a result of rigid American observance of the Geneva Convention, North Korean Communists are paradoxically

but undeniably enjoying a higher standard of living and hygiene than they ever knew before. They sleep on straw mats, with cot stretchers for the sick and wounded. A wounded prisoner is probably far better off in United Nations hands than in those of his own medical corps. Penicillin and other expensive drugs ar e used freely as required. Rice, barley, fish, and their favourite “kimche,” a concoction of pepper, garlic and other spices, are the prisoners* staple diet. In most cases they were living off the land before they were captured. An American guard estimated that as the result of the work of missionaries in North Korea about 7 or 8 per cent of the prisoners are Christians. The mai n prisoner compound includes three women, caught with the North Korean Army.