Foreign Relations of the United States, 1951, Korea and China, Volume VII, Part 1

Lot 55D128: Black Book, Tab 22: Telegram

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

restricted
priority

Tokyo, 5 December 1951—9:35 p. m.

C–58755. HNC–518. For info CINCUNC Adv Msg HNC 518.

“The following written reply to United Nations Command questions was received from the Communists through the Liaison Officers prior to the meeting today.

“(1) The function of the Armistice Commission is to be jointly responsible for the concrete arrangement and the supervision of the implementation of the whole armistice agreement, except for the scope of supervision specified in paragraph 6 of our proposal. If any armed forces of either side are found to have violated the armistice agreement by entering the Demilitarized Zone or carrying out any acts of armed force against the Demilitarized Zone, the Armistice Commission shall dispatch an inspection team composed of an equal number of personnel of both sides to the Demilitarized Zone to carry out inspection. The Armistice Commission has no right to operate behind the battle line of either side, beyond the Demilitarized Zone, because that would be an interference in the internal affairs of both sides, while the contents of the armistice terms are in general all limited to the Demilitarized Zone, regarding the deliberate bombardment, aerial bombing and coastal attack on the rear of one side by the other side, such as the case you posed in your question 17, we consider that if both sides are sincerely for an armistice, such incidents should not occur, and that, if they should occur, the supervisory organ of neutral nations must be requested to send there its inspection team to make an investigation and to report the result of the investigation to the Armistice Commission.

“(2) During the armistice, no military forces, weapons or ammo shall be introduced into Korea under any pretext, including, of course, military aircraft and naval vessels. The purpose of this is to ensure the stability of the military armistice so as to facilitate the holding by both sides of a political conference of a higher level. As to flight of Civil Transport aircraft and navigation of merchant vessels, they are not prohibited.

“(3) After agreement is reached on the third item of agenda, both sides can immediately work out through negotiations a list of neutral nations agreed upon by both sides, and proceed to invite them jointly, and after obtaining their consent, ask them to send an equal number of representatives respectively to be responsible for forming the supervisory organ, to be prepared, after the signing of the armistice agreement and in accordance with the scope specified in the armistice agreement, to dispatch teams, composed of equal numbers of members, to carry out inspection at the ports in the rear of both sides mutually agreed upon, and to be responsible to the Armistice Commission for reporting the result to the Armistice Commission. Signed Joy.”¹

1. A subsequent message sent from Admiral Joy to General Ridgway on December 5 as telegram HNC–519 was passed on to the Joint Chiefs of Staff:

   “Following additional information on Communist position received from subcommittee, which is still in session:

   “‘The MAC and the neutral organ are completely independent. Neither is subject to the direction of the other. The MAC may request the neutral organ to inspect outside the demilitarized zone. The directive of the neutral organ is the armistice agreement itself. Neutral teams may be in place at ports of entry at time of signing of armistice.’” (Black Book, Tab 23)