The Final Touches
At the time of writing, United Nations and Communist nego- tiators have just met for the first time for a week, to consider the progress that has been made by liaison officers in the final details of the truce. These have been mostly concerned with the line of demarcation which will separate north and south while a political settlement of the whole is under dis- cussion. On the text, little remains to be done, though the parties have still to bring themselves to the final decision to sign. The strange phenomenon of the vicious fighting that is sweeping over Capitol Hill and Finger Ridge will have no impact inside the negotiators' but in Panmunjom. There are a number of possible explanations, but none of them suggests that the Chinese are changing their minds about wanting a truce. Their intention may have been to force last minute adjust- ments in the demarcation line, but so far as is known the negotiators do not appear to have taken into account the most recent shifts in the fighting line. Or they may be trying to finish the war with a flourish, to be able to say at home and abroad that they were on the offensive, not the defensive, when they called a halt. And they are, almost certainly, out to impress Mr. Rhee with the unpleasantness of the conse- quences of not signing a truce, or of not keeping it once it is signed. In this last respect neither the Chinese nor the Americans appear to have had much effect. Mr. Rhee has sent his Prime Minister to Washington, which may mean that he is prepared to discuss matters in a more reasonable way. But his hand would seem to have turned the key for the mass escape of North Korean prisoners in the South.
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