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

Lot 55D128: Black Book, Tab 121: Telegram

The Commander in Chief, United Nations Command (Ridgway) to the Advance Headquarters, United Nations Command, Korea

secret
operational immediate

Tokyo, 21 December 1951—9:37 a. m.

C–59779. Re HNC–605.¹

1. You are authorized to deliver the letter to Gen Lee as outlined HNC 605.² Concurrently, suggest that you issue to the UN press a statement substantially as follows: “Wide discrepancies were stated to exist in the list of POWs furnished by the Communists last Wed, 18 Dec, in a stiff note delivered by the UNC today to Gen Lee, Communist delegate on the sub-committee for exchange of prisoners of war. The note stated in substance that after a careful analysis of the information and lists furnished the UNC by the Communists discrepancies [appeared?], which cannot be reconciled with data which the UNC has received from other sources. Much of the information on which the UNC bases its charges was released by the Communists themselves. On 18 Aug 50, for example, the Communists submitted list of 50 names as POWs to the ICRC at Geneva. 31 of these names do not appear on the 19 Dec roster furnished by the Communists. On 14 Sep 50, the Communists submitted similar list of 60 names to Geneva; 35 of those names are missing from the 19 Dec list. In the course of the Communist so called “humanitarian broadcasts” in official releases of the Communists, and from other sources, over 1,000 names of UN personnel, named as POWs, are missing from the latest roster submitted by the Communists. The note to the Communists stated further: “Of the tens of thousands of soldiers of the ROK who are carried in official records as ‘missing in action’ you listed only 7142 as captured—a wholly unbelievable ratio under conditions of warfare in Korea.” The UNC note ended with a blunt request for a “complete, proper, and satisfactory explanation as to the status of the UN personnel noted and the many thousands of ROK Army personnel UN reported by you as POWs”.

2. You will note that the press release does not contain any of the names which will be forwarded to the Communists as inclosures to your basic letter or any reference to the fact that there were inclosures. It is considered inadvisable here to include in any press statement the names of prisoners of war who UNC feels to be in a questionable status.³

3. It is desired that you inform me ASAP of your planned procedure after delivery of the communication to Gen Lee.

1. Not printed.
2. The letter under reference was transmitted to the Joint Chiefs of Staff in telegram CX–59780; it followed the lines of the press release set forth in telegram C–59779.
3. General Ridgway suggested release to the press of the names of U.N. personnel not included in the Communists’ lists of December 18, but the Joint Chiefs of Staff refused to concur in his recommendation on the grounds that such a step might create an unfavorable emotional atmosphere in the United States and might tend to build up false hopes on the part of relatives and friends of the named individuals. (Telegram CX–59789, December 21, from Tokyo, and Telegram JCS 90304, December 21, to Tokyo; Black Book, Tabs 122 and 127)