Chapter 57 1. Post-armistice agreement

After the Battle of Jincheng, the United States suffered repeated defeats on the Korean battlefield, forcing it to suffer from various pressures at home and abroad.Finally, they had to return to the negotiating table, and finally contributed to the realization of the Korean armistice. The realization of the Korean armistice has eased the tension on the Korean peninsula.But this is only the first step towards a peaceful solution to the North Korean issue.The peaceful settlement of the Korean issue still depends on the earnest observance and implementation of all the provisions of the armistice agreement by both parties.Unwilling to be reconciled to its failure, the United States took the Korean armistice as an expedient measure to gain respite, tried every means to sabotage the implementation of the armistice agreement, obstructed the peaceful settlement of the Korean issue, and tried to maintain the tense situation on the Korean peninsula.Therefore, whether to abide by and maintain the armistice agreement after the armistice, and to further seek a peaceful solution to the Korean issue has become the focus of struggle between the two warring parties.

After the armistice, the main tasks of the DPRK and China are to abide by and maintain the implementation of the armistice agreement, consolidate the Korean armistice, strictly prevent the recurrence of aggressive wars, and further seek a peaceful solution to the Korean issue.In the five years after the armistice, the DPRK and China strictly abided by the armistice agreement on the one hand, and fought tit-for-tat with the US on the other hand, thus ensuring the relative stability of the situation on the Korean peninsula. In order to meet the needs of the struggle situation, after the Korean armistice, the DPRK and China changed the negotiating delegation into an armistice delegation.As agreed by China and North Korea, the armistice delegation and the Armistice Commission are still mainly in charge of the Volunteer Army delegation and under the leadership of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. Important issues will be discussed and decided by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the Workers’ Party of Korea before instructing the armistice delegation to implement them.Li Kenong was still in charge of the armistice delegation, and all issues were resolved through consultation between representatives of the two sides.

In the early days of the armistice, due to the organization of various armistice agencies, arrangement of armistice supervision, repatriation of prisoners of war from the other side, acceptance of prisoners of war from North Korea and China, and explanations for not directly repatriating prisoners of war, the tasks were complex and arduous.According to the needs of the task, the Volunteer Army recruited personnel from the Chinese Party, government, military, and schools to enrich and strengthen the strength of the Volunteer Army delegation, bringing the number of the delegation to 7,883, ten times the maximum number of delegations before the armistice.

The first major event after the armistice was the establishment of a military armistice committee.According to the provisions of the Armistice Agreement, the Armistice Commission is composed of a chief member and four members appointed by the commanders of both sides. It is the highest organization appointed by the commanders of both sides to supervise the armistice. incident, and has overall supervisory responsibility for each armistice agency (except the Neutral Nations Repatriation Commission and the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission).The members of the Armistice Commission from the DPRK and China are as follows: Lieutenant General Lee Sang-chao of the Korean People’s Army as chief member, Major General Cui Yonghan and Major General Park Il-young of the Korean People’s Army as members, General Ding Guoyu and General Chai Chengwen of the Chinese People’s Volunteer Army, Secretary-General and Assistant Secretary-General Zhu Ran, Colonel Xu Ming. The chief committee member of the "United Nations Army" is Major General Borian of the U.S. Army, and the members are Major General Kate Kachin of the Thai Army, Major General Bestin of the British Army, Major General Mendenhall of the U.S. Navy, Brigadier General Endhill of the U.S. Air Force, Secretary General, Assistant The secretary-general is Colonel Coleman and Colefield.

On July 28, the Military Armistice Commission held its first meeting in Panmunjom.During the meeting, the two sides agreed in principle to divide the demilitarized zone and the mouth of the Han River into ten sections, and deploy ten joint observation teams to station separately to assist the Military Armistice Commission in supervising the implementation of the terms of the armistice agreement.The joint observation team set off on July 30 to carry out tasks in their respective surveillance areas. In order to specifically implement the provisions of the relevant provisions of the armistice agreement, the Military Armistice Commission has successively approved the "Military Armistice Commission Trial Working Rules", "Secretariat Trial Organizational Rules", "Measures for Clearing Dangerous Objects from the Demilitarized Zone", "About the Joint Trial Measures for the Organization, Management and Support of the Observation Group", "Regulations on the Access of News Agencies to the Demilitarized Zone", "Agreement on the Military Armistice Commission and its Subsidiary Agencies and the Certification Documents, Emblems and Identification Marks of the Personnel of the Agencies" , "Rules for Civil Shipping at the Estuary of the Han River and Related Matters", "Regulations on Supervision and Reporting of Military Personnel and Replacement Items Arriving and Leaving North Korea" and other ten agreements.The purpose is to facilitate the work of the Armistice Commission, the Joint Observation Group, the Neutral Nations Supervisory Committee, and the Neutral Nations Repatriation Committee, and facilitate the supervision of the implementation of the Armistice Agreement by both parties.

Under the supervision of the Military Armistice Commission, the specific arrangements for the early stage of the ceasefire went relatively smoothly.According to the stipulations of the armistice agreement, at 22:00 on July 27 (Korean time), the armed forces of both sides fully realized the ceasefire. Before 22:00 on July 30, all armed forces of both sides had withdrawn from the demilitarized zone. On August 4, U.S. troops were evacuated from the rear of North Korea and the coastal islands in accordance with regulations.Under the supervision of the Joint Observation Team, on September 1, all the marking tasks on the military demarcation line and the northern and southern edges of the demilitarized zone were completed.The task of tree marking is very heavy.Both parties to the armistice must erect 1,293 signs with identical specifications and characters on the military demarcation line of only 245 kilometers.Among them, the 541 projects that the DPRK and China were responsible for were completed in only 13 days, and were checked and verified by both sides without any mistakes. On September 13, both parties to the armistice had completed the removal of dangerous objects in the demilitarized zone.The two sides began to repatriate the prisoners of war who were directly repatriated on August 5, and by September 6, the work of directly repatriating prisoners of war was completed.

From the beginning of the armistice negotiations, Li Kenong sat in Kaesong and directed the foreign struggle of the DPRK-China delegation.Fatigue and chronic illness often bothered him, his lung disease became more and more serious, and he often coughed up blood.The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China once sent Wu Xiuquan to North Korea to take over his job.At that time, the negotiation struggle was at a critical juncture. He believed that the midway substitution was not conducive to the negotiation struggle, and he was still fighting on the front line in Kaesong.Li Kenong has rich experience in foreign struggles. He needs to plan complex negotiations and struggles, and he needs to deal with many major issues after the armistice.After the work of maintaining the armistice agreement was gradually completed, in early November 1953, with the consent of the Party Central Committee and Mao Zedong, Li Kenong was transferred back to China to rest.After Li Kenong returned to China, Du Ping, Qiao Guanhua, Ding Guoyu, Chai Chengwen, and Huang Hua formed the Party Committee of the Volunteer Army Delegation, Du Ping was the acting secretary, and Qiao Guanhua was the deputy secretary.The specific division of labor is that Du Ping is in charge of the overall work of the delegation, Qiao Guanhua is in charge of external negotiations, Huang Hua is in charge of the talks between the two sides of the political meeting, Ding Guoyu and Chai Chengwen are in charge of the military suspension meeting, the observation team and the rear port work.The reports on foreign negotiations were signed by Li Xiangchao, Du Ping, and Qiao Guanhua and distributed to Pyongyang and Beijing, and the reply cables were still sent by Beijing.The business work of the Korean-Chinese delegation of the Armistice Commission is mainly in charge of the Volunteer Army delegation, under the leadership of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, and major issues are discussed and decided by the Chinese and Korean parties.

By the second half of 1954, great changes had taken place in the work of the Korean Armistice Commission; major issues such as prisoners of war had been dealt with, and the work of the Military Armistice Commission and the Neutral Nation Supervision Commission was on track, with a long-term trend. Having accumulated some experience in the common foreign struggle, they are fully qualified and capable of taking on the responsibilities of the Armistice Commission.Based on the above situation, Mao Zedong called Kim Il Sung on November 24, 1954. After Kim Il Sung agreed, it was decided that the work of the Armistice Commission should be handed over to the DPRK, under the direct leadership of the Workers' Party of Korea.

In order to adapt to this situation, on December 6, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China formulated and issued a plan for adjusting the relationship between the DPRK and China delegations at the Armed Forces Suspension Conference and reducing the organization of the Volunteer Army delegation.The plan determined that all affairs of the Military Armistice Commission would be presided over by the delegation of the Korean People's Army, under the direct leadership of Pyongyang. In case of major problems, Pyongyang could discuss with Beijing.In order to reduce difficulties for the DPRK side, the handover work was completed within three months.The Volunteer Army Delegation of the Military Suspension Council reduced its organization and changed it to the Liaison Office of the Volunteer Army in Kaesong. Do not directly deal with affairs related to the Military Suspension Council.By December 14, the handover of all volunteer army delegations was basically completed, and from the 15th onwards, all work related to the military suspension meeting was presided over by the People's Army delegation.The staff of the Kaesong Liaison Office of the Volunteer Army was reduced to more than 100 people.

In October 1958, after all the Chinese People's Volunteers withdrew from North Korea, the representatives of the Volunteers who remained in the Korean Armistice Commission, together with the representatives of the Korean People's Army, continued to fight for the maintenance of the armistice agreement. After the Volunteer Army voluntarily withdrew from North Korea, the "United Nations Army" actually ceased to exist. Except for the US troops that continued to stay in South Korea, the troops of other countries withdrew one after another.Although the Military Armistice Commission meets several times a year as usual, most of the terms of the armistice agreement have been violated by the United States.The Neutral Nations Supervisory Committee has long existed in name only, and it is only a formality.Nevertheless, due to the unremitting efforts of the DPRK and China and relevant parties, the tension on the Korean peninsula has gradually eased, and no large-scale military conflicts have occurred since the armistice.