Eye on Korea_ An Insider Account of Korean-American Relations

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that, if we would endorse their plan, we would be rewarded with a meeting

with the Great Leader himself. Stilwell was unmoved, and the arms-control

talks ended with no progress.

U.S.–North Korean Relations

A second topic that we discussed was how to improve U.S.–North Korean

relations. Again, General Stilwell began the discussions with the observa-

tion that the improvement of relations with the United States figured promi-

nently on the North Korean agenda. An essential step in achieving that goal,

said Stilwell, would be an accelerated search for and return of America’s

dead from the Korean War.

Recounting the history of the search for American war dead, Stilwell

recalled that, in the year following the signing of the armistice agreement,

substantial efforts were made by both sides to recover and return the remains

of North Korean, Chinese, and United Nations Command servicemen. In

 more than , remains of United Nations personnel, including

, Americans, were returned. The remains of approximately ,

Americans were still missing on North Korean soil. Since then North Ko-

rea has been asked repeatedly to account for , U.N. prisoners of war

who were not repatriated immediately after the armistice and were believed

to have died in captivity. No action had ever been taken by North Korea.

Stilwell said that the Americans now sought a commitment from the

DPRK to undertake a serious effort to search for war dead at the prison-camp

locations previously identified by the United States. Given such a commit-

ment, and the development of a program for search and recovery, he was

confident that the United States would be willing to provide financing and

technical assistance. As this was a multinational matter, the overall venue

should be international. Stilwell suggested that this could be arranged

through the International Red Cross or perhaps the United Nations.

Responding for the North Korean side, Mr. Song Ho Gyong noted that the

armistice agreement obliged North Korea to search for the MIAs only dur-

ing the first year after the signing of the agreement. Because this was a

humanitarian issue, North Korea was willing to solve the issue independent

of the agreement and had raised it in its contacts with the United States and

with Congress. Song said that the DPRK proposed to establish a joint U.S.–

North Korean committee that would search for and repatriate MIAs; there-

fore, the involvement of the Red Cross or the United Nations was not

necessary. Song complained, however, that Stilwell was presenting this is-