09-151.pdf

uilding was erected to beautify the JSA.” 158
At the 216th meeting called by the KPA/CPV held on October
26, the North again protested against the “Freedom House” and
“propaganda” materials displayed there. Many photos of Korean War
scenes were displayed as well as manufactured products to show
South Korea’s economic growth. The South responded, as it had at the
previous meeting, that the house was built to beautify the area and to
provide a resting place for tourists and therefore not an issue for the
North to protest against. Subsequently, for more than two years at
MAC meetings, North Korea criticized the house for being what they
considered “anti-Communist hostile propaganda” in terms of both the
name and the exhibits, but these were removed in September 1971
when the building was turned into an office for North-South dialogue.
In 1970, North Korea demolished the Peace Pagoda and built the large
two-storey building P’anmungak on the same hill where the pagoda
had been located immediately to the north of the MAC conference
building. There were no anti-US and South Korea exhibits in and
outside P’anmungak.
Concerning the introduction of weapons, the following eight
meetings and many informal contacts, on March 8, 1966 the NNSC for
the first time submitted a letter to the KPA/CPV expressing different
opinions on the issue. Nonetheless, Major General Bennedich noted
that both parties were clearly positive towards the NNSC’s presence
and work. In 1966, he emphasized that the NNSC delegates were the
only people who could talk both formally and informally with both
158_ Bennedich, op. cit., pp. 5, 6; Försvarets Läromedelscentral, op. cit., p. 32; Hapch’am
chôngbo ponbu, op. cit., 1999, p. 179; Kukpang chôngbo ponbu, op. cit., 1993,
p. 120; Lee, op. cit., 2004, p. 170. Original quotation marks.
Rising Tensions on the Korean Peninsula during the 1960s
193