Resumption

This week, under the big tent at Panmunjom, everything was signed and set for the formal resumption of U.N.-Communist cease-fire talks.

At first the Reds had been uncompromising. They insisted on neutral zones around Panmunjom, around the Communist and U.N. advance bases at Kaesong and Munsan, and around the connecting roads, totaling some 175 square miles, as against the allied proposal of less than 20. They insisted that the U.N. command accept responsibility for guerrilla disturbances in the neutral zones, and that nights over them by U.N. planes be absolutely banned.

Into this situation, Matt Ridgway tossed a potent psychological bombshell. He warned the Reds that, if a cease-fire agreement was eventually reached, it would have to be based on the "reality of opposing military positions at the time"--in other words, that the present Eighth Army offensive is steadily carrying the cease-fire line farther into North Korea. Whether this alone changed the Communists' minds, or whether they merely responded to internal pressures of their own, the Red liaison officers at Panmunjom suddenly became conciliatory.

First they agreed that neither of the opposing commanders should be held responsible for the actions of "partisans" or "irregulars" not under military control. Next, in a workmanlike series of compromises, it was agreed that the conference site at Panmunjom should be protected by a neutral zone 1,000 yards (about five-eighths of a mile) in radius, that three-mile radius circles around Kaesong and Munsan and a 400-meter (438-yard) corridor along the access roads should be free from hostile attack. Finally, the Reds accepted the U.N. assurance that flights over the protected zones would be limited "insofar as practicable." The U.N. is putting up orange, cerise and yellow balloons over the site to mark it by day, and searchlight beams to mark it by night, to avoid mishaps.

This week the resumption agreement was formally signed, and the expectation was that the top delegations would meet within 48 hours for the first truce talks in two months. It remained to be seen whether the Communists would go back to their demands for an armistice line on the 38th parallel. If they did, the talks would be deadlocked again.

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