Office of the Historian

Lot 55D128: Black Book, Tab 48: Telegram

The Commander in Chief, Far East (Ridgway) to the Joint Chiefs of Staff

secret
operational immediate
Tokyo, 1 November 1951—6:11 p. m.

C–56380. HNC 414. UNC delegates opened morning session with detailed refutation of Communist proposal of yesterday along lines indicated in HNC 413.1 Communists feigned surprise at strong rejection to their proposal; attempted to get UNC delegation to take a recess until tomorrow for purpose of further study of their proposal. UNC delegates made it very clear that the proposal had been given thorough study and that no additional time for study was needed.

Afternoon session brought additional arguments on relative merits of 2 proposals.

While Communists reiterate that their proposal is final the delegation believes that the UNC demand for the Kaesong area is the crux of their objection to UNC proposal and that almost any compromise which does not require them to forfeit Kaesong would be acceptable. Sub-delegation believes we should continue to take advantage of the momentum gained during the past 7 days for the present at least. Meetings resume at 1100 hours tomorrow.

  1. Infra.↩