795.00/3–1052
Memorandum for the Record, by the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Far Eastern Affairs (Johnson)
Subject:
- Position on POWs—Korean Armistice Negotiations
Reference:
- Memorandum for the Record, February 8, 1952, foregoing subject.1
The memorandum to the President mentioned in penultimate paragraph in the foregoing memorandum was approved by the President on February 8 (see Secretary’s record of his and Mr. Lovett’s conversation with the President on this subject).2
In accordance with the discussion of the preceding day between Secretary Acheson and Secretary Lovett concerning a mission to Tokyo and Korea to explore and discuss the problem on the spot, on February 9 it was determined that General Hull, Vice Chief of Staff of the Army, and Mr. Johnson would depart as quickly as possible.
On February 11 a meeting was held in Mr. Lovett’s office to give General Hull and Mr. Johnson an opportunity to obtain a full understanding of all the views on this subject and discuss the objectives of their mission. The Secretary of State; the Secretary of Defense; Mr. Nash, Assistant to the Secretary of Defense; the Joint Chiefs of Staff; and the Service Secretaries were present. It was agreed that the purpose of the mission was not to transmit any instructions to General Ridgway, nor were General Hull and Mr. Johnson authorized to reach any decisions on behalf of Washington. The purpose of the mission would be to brief General Ridgway and his staff fully on the discussions and decisions that had taken place in Washington, and to explore all possible methods of solution, the final decision to be reached following [Page 77] the return of the mission to Washington or receipt by Washington of recommendations from Tokyo.
General Hull and Mr. Johnson, accompanied by Lt. Col. Jack Matthews of the Army G–3 section, departed Washington the afternoon of February 11 and arrived in Tokyo the evening of February 13.
The morning of February 14 a meeting was held with General Ridgway in which General Hickey, Chief of Staff; General Wright,3 G–3; General Milburn, G–1; and Admiral Joy were present. General Hull and Mr. Johnson fully briefed the group on discussions in Washington and the decisions that had been reached, and the prior problem was thoroughly discussed with the group. Admiral Joy expressed the strong view that any unilateral reclassification of POWs by the UNC so as to present the Communists with a fait accompli in order to solve the problem of forcible repatriation would be an act of bad faith on the part of the United States and inevitably result in reprisals against prisoners held by the Communists. No other members of the group appeared to share this feeling, at least in the same degree, although all recognized the possibility of reprisals. General Ridgway strongly expressed the view that the principle of voluntary repatriation was very important. General Hickey expressed the view that there should be no attempt to carry out the fait accompli principle until negotiations had reached the point that the UNC had presented the offer of conceding the airfield issue in exchange for the PW issue and that tactic had failed. It was determined that Mr. Johnson, in cooperation with General Milburn, would explore all possible solutions to the problem while General Hull carried out inspection of Army installations in Japan.
The afternoon of February 14, Mr. Johnson and Colonel Matthews met at various times with Colonel Salisbury, G–1 officer principally concerned with POW matters, thoroughly to explore the factual situation with regard to POWs; Colonel Rasmussen, G–2, to explore the situation with regard to UN prisoners in Communist hands and not accounted for in the Communist lists of POWs; and General Milburn.
The morning of February 15, Mr. Johnson and Colonel Matthews met with General Ennis, G–2, who agreed to their request to have a thorough study immediately undertaken of the numbers of American and other UN prisoners, probably alive and still in the hands of the Communists but not included on the list of POWs given to the UNC.
The morning of February 16, Mr. Johnson and Colonel Matthews met with Colonel Svensson of G–2 Section; Colonel Nugent, Chief, CI&E Section; Colonel Chaplin, Provost Marshal; Colonel Kogstad, G–1 Section; and Colonel Salisbury to explore at length the views of [Page 78] the group with regard to the probable number of POWs who would violently oppose repatriation and possible covert as well as overt methods of identifying such individuals. All of the group appeared thoroughly to understand and approve the fait accompli principle, and to believe it to be practicable of application.
The evening of February 16, General Hull and Mr. Johnson met with General Hickey, at which time Mr. Johnson reviewed the results of his conversations thus far and suggested that Headquarters immediately undertake the Staff Study of the problem,4 which could be discussed following the return of General Hull and Mr. Johnson from Korea on February 19. General Hickey agreed to have work on this study immediately undertaken.
The morning of February 17, General Hull, Mr. Johnson and Colonel Matthews flew to Pusan and by light plane to the island of Koje, accompanied by General Mood, 8th Army Chief of Staff; General Yount, Commander of Korea Logistic Command; Colonel Fitzgerald, Commander of Prisoner of War Camps; Lieutenant Colonel Dame, former Commander of the Camps; and Ambassador Muccio. A brief inspection of the Prisoner of War inclosures was carried out during which, and proceeding from and back to Pusan, conditions in the camps and sentiments of POWs were discussed with the foregoing officers.
The evening of February 17, General Hull, Mr. Johnson and Colonel Matthews, accompanied by General Mood, proceeded to Seoul and spent the night at the 8th Army Headquarters. The morning of February 18, Mr. Johnson and Colonel Matthews proceeded by light plane to Munsan and from 10:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. thoroughly discussed with Admiral Joy, Admiral Libby, Colonel Galloway, and Colonel Hickman the entire prisoner-of-war question, as well as the general status of the armistice negotiations. All four of the officers expressed their strong opposition to the fait accompli course of action, athough they were unable to suggest any possible solutions other than forcibly returning to the Communists all POWs held by the UNC. However, Admiral Joy felt that there was some chance the Communists would accept the principles of no forcible repatriation if a firm and unalterable stand were taken. Admiral Libby felt that there was no possibility of the Communists accepting the principles of non-forcible repatriation.
The evening of February 18, General Hull, Mr. Johnson and Colonel Matthews returned to Tokyo. The morning of February 19, Mr. Johnson and Colonel Matthews briefly discussed the GHQ Staff Study with Colonel Salisbury and Colonel Murray (USMC and member of Admiral Libby’s [Page 79] staff), during which Colonel Murray expressed his full understanding and approval of the fait accompli course of action.
The morning of February 19, a meeting was held with General Ridgway, General Hickey, General Wright and General Milburn, during which the Staff Study prepared at GHQ was preliminarily discussed, particularly the alternative overt and covert methods of identifying prisoners who would violently oppose repatriation. General Ridgway expressed the view that only the overt method should be used. At the close of the meeting a memorandum of results of the meeting was drawn up and discussed and subsequently approved by General Ridgway.5
General Hull, Mr. Johnson and Colonel Matthews departed from Tokyo the afternoon of February 19, and arrived in Washington the morning of February 22.
- Ante, p. 40.↩
- Ante, p. 43.↩
- Brig. Gen. Edwin K. Wright headed the Joint Strategic Plans and Operations Group, which was established by MacArthur in 1949 and staffed with representatives from the three services. The group had responsibility for high-level military planning for the UNC during the Korean war.↩
- On Feb. 18, 1952, Headquarters, UN POW Camp Number 1, sent CINCUNC certain POW information in telegram 2207, to which was attached a 12-page paper entitled “Summary of United Nations PW Information”. Presumably this is either the staff study under reference or the information on which it was based. A copy of this telegram and its attachments is in FE files, lot 55 D 128.↩
- Dated Feb. 19, p. 56.↩