ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, September 18, 1996 TAG: 9609180099
SECTION: NATL/INTL PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: Associated Press
THE ARMISTICE WITH NORTH KOREA might have been delayed had the White House known earlier that 900 prisoners of war were still missing.
Shown intelligence indicating that more than 900 POWs remained unaccounted for, President Eisenhower in 1953 told a top aide he might not have begun peace talks with North Korea had he known the information earlier.
Documents made public Tuesday show intense concern within the Eisenhower administration over secret reports that hundreds of prisoners of war had been left behind. And testimony Tuesday before the House National Security personnel subcommittee brought forth several theories on their fate.
The documents include intelligence reports, classified policy statements, and memoranda of conversations among top government officials. They disagree widely on estimates of unaccounted-for POWs.
One document, dated Dec. 22, 1953, recounts a conversation between Eisenhower and Army Secretary Robert T. Stevens about internal reports that more than 900 POWs were left behind.
``The president made the statement that he was not sure that if he had fully appreciated the situation he would have felt it wise to go into the forthcoming conference,'' the memo says, apparently referring to peace talks over ending the Korean War. ``Perhaps we should have insisted on their return as a precondition to the conference.''
Peace talks with North Korea had ended with an armistice earlier that year at Panmunjom.
When Eisenhower asked Stevens what evidence the military had, Stevens reported that the Army had the names of ``610 Army people that have just disappeared from the camps. The Air Force has over 300.''
These prisoners apparently were not part of the POWs returned to the United States in what the memo refers to as the ``Big Switch'' of prisoners that marked the end of the conflict.
Although it kept the issue quiet, the Eisenhower administration appears to have taken the reports seriously. A memo from Deputy Secretary of Defense Reuben B. Robertson Jr. dated Oct. 27, 1956, asks the military service secretaries to improve the information they have on unaccounted-for cases to help in negotiations with China and North Korea.
Eventually the issue drew public attention. One of the documents, a memorandum dated June 20, 1958, notes passage of a sense-of-Congress resolution that the Eisenhower administration would continue to seek the return of 450 still-missing Americans.
Rep. Robert Dornan, R-Calif., chairman of the subcommittee, said the latest Pentagon list of unaccounted-for numbers 389, although he said he believes the figure is higher.
LENGTH: Medium: 56 linesby CNB