895.00B/10–1349
The Ambassador in Korea (Muccio) to the Secretary of State
No. 635
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The Ambassador has, from time to time, reported to the Department on the subject of communist guerrilla activities in the territory under control of the Republic of Korea. The Ambassador has reported, for example, the successful operations carried out by the Korean Army in the early part of this year on Cheju island and in the Chiri mountain area of South Cholla and South Kyongsang provinces. The Ambassador is glad to be able to report that the Cheju operation was so devastatingly successful that the communist raiders have been unable to make a come back of any kind on that most strategically important island. With regard to the Chiri mountain area, however, the communist guerrillas have been able to survive to a certain extent. They have also been increasingly active during the past three months in the more rugged mountain areas of North Kyongsang and Kangwon provinces. [Page 1087] The persistence of these guerrilla operations is, of course, a tribute to the untiring efforts of the North Korea communists, spurred by their Soviet masters to create terror and chaos in the south, the ultimate objective of which is unmistakably to insure Soviet control of the South Korea peninsula and thus wipe out non Soviet influence from the Asian mainland extending from the Arctic Circle to French Indochina. It is clear that the North Korea communists have been engaged in what might be termed an “all out” guerrilla offensive during the summer months when nature’s cover was such as to facilitate their operations. Those operations have been accomplished in the main by the sending of many hundreds of trained guerrillas and saboteurs, a good portion of whom possess arms, to areas south of the Thirty-Eighth Parallel.
Considering their numbers, their evidently well prepared plans and the fanatical nature of their mission, the guerrillas have not had any large measure of success. It is true that they have been able to marshal several hundred men for attacks on towns and villages on several occasions. But in most cases these attacks have been beaten off and ultimately the guerrillas have been subjected to heavy losses. In the past three months, it would appear that the guerrillas have lost well over a thousand men in engagements with the Korean Army and Police. In this connection, the activities of the Army, in particular, are being stepped up and it is thought that even heavier casualties will be inflicted upon the communist bandits in the course of the next two or three months.
Perhaps the main result of communist guerrilla depredation in the territory of the Republic has been the creation of a feeling of uneasiness and in some areas of terror. Materially the communists have been unable to carry out sabotage of any real importance. Neither have the guerrillas been able to establish anything but transitory bases. There is no indication that they have been able to gain the loyalty of the local inhabitants who fear and detest them.
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