Editorial Note
Because the Communist Delegation requested and received a 3-day postponement for administrative reasons, the plenary sessions at Panmunjom did not reconvene until June 4. At the meeting on that date, the Communist Delegation submitted a counterproposal which accepted most of the provisions of the UNC proposal of May 25. The Communists continued to insist on ten explainers per thousand POWs; but perhaps more important was their revised language vis-à-vis prisoners who did not choose repatriation, which read as follows:
“The Neutral Nations Repatriation Commission shall declare the release from prisoner of war status to civilian status of any prisoners of war who have not exercised their right to be repatriated and for whom no other disposition has been agreed to by the political conference within 120 days after the Neutral Nations Repatriation Commission has assumed their custody. Thereafter, according to the application of each individual, those who elect to go to neutral nations shall be assisted by the Neutral Nations Repatriation Commission and by the Red Cross Society of India.”
A record of this session can be found in telegram CX 62808 (HNC 1715), Clark to JCS, June 4, 1953, not printed. In telegram CX 62821, June 4, 1953, to the JCS, not printed, Clark commented on the points of the counterproposal and stated that he was going to Korea the next day to confer with Ambassador Briggs regarding the meeting with President Rhee scheduled for the afternoon of June 5. (Both in Matthews files, lot 53 D 413) See also Hermes, Truce Tent and Fighting Frontpages 430–431 and Vatcher, Panmunjom, page 193.