§ 83. Mr. A. Hendersonasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he can now make a statement on the proposal to re-screen the Chinese and North Korean prisoners of war by a neutral body in the presence of Communist observers.
§ Mr. NuttingOn 13th July, in a secret session of the armistice negotiations, General Harrison, the chief United Nations' representative, made a proposal for a solution of the prisoner-of-war issue, in the course of which he repeated a United Nations offer to permit individual interviews with North Korean and Chinese prisoners-of-war who have refused to be repatriated by representatives of a bilaterally acceptable, impartial agency, or by joint teams with or without military representation; such interviews to take place after the signing of the armistice with 145W both sides agreeing to abide by the result of the free expression of choice by the individual interviewed.
After four days' recess, General Nam II, the chief Communist delegate, rejected the whole of General Harrison's proposal and, in particular, repeated the Communists' opposition to the principle of screening and their refusal to take part in screening in any form.
On 25th July the United Nations Command agreed to a Communist proposal to revert to open sessions. After one such session had been held on the following day, the negotiators agreed to a week's recess.
The United Nations Command will, of course, continue to make every effort to find a solution to the prisoners-of-war problem, which alone stands in the way of an armistice agreement, without prejudice to the principle, on which they have taken their stand, that no prisoner of war shall be forcibly repatriated.