09-151.pdf

The April 1967 meeting was held because North Korea demanded
an investigation of the “diabolical atrocities” the UNC had
allegedly committed on April 5. The task for the JOTs was to find out
the facts behind an incident in which three North Korean guards (of
five) who by mistake had crossed the MDL located under an American
guard post had been killed on the UNC side of the DMZ, 900 metres
from the Joint Security Area. According to the UNC JOT, three Army
soldiers had crossed the MDL and proceeded to a point 20 metres
south where an alert UNC work party doing routine work had fired on
the soldiers who were killed. From concealed positions along the
MDL, North Korean army soldiers fired automatic weapons at the
UNC when it attempted to withdraw to its assigned guard post. The
soldiers retrieved one of three soldiers killed and dragged him to a
point 7-8 metres north of the MDL. A fourth North Korean soldier had
been killed in the exchange of fire that ensued and another was
wounded. No UNC soldier was killed. The North Korean JOT could
not accept the UNC version. Like the NNSC, the JOT did not have an
umpire who could break the deadlock and give his judgement when
investigation results differed, hampering the work of both organs. The
UNC JOT Senior Member was willing to meet his North Korean
counterpart to work on a joint report but added that the UNC would
file its report with the MAC unilaterally if the North Koreans did not
wish to meet again.
On April 7, North Korea’s JOT Senior Member claimed that the
UNC had fired on and killed North Korean Army “civil police” who
were on a routine patrol north of the MDL. The UNC had sub-
Lee, op. cit., 1998(a), pp. 3-4: op. cit., 2004, p. 133.
Rising Tensions on the Korean Peninsula during the 1960s
161