09-151.pdf

On November 16, a North Korean company officer equipped with a
pistol had crossed the MDL into the camp of India’s contingent of the
custodian forces, where weapons were prohibited. 38 The South asserted
that its investigation of the North’s protest made at the 88th meeting
convened on November 11 that a military plane had intruded into its
airspace showed that it was incorrect. At the 98th meeting held on
December 30, the South denied the North’s protest at the 93rd meeting
convened on November 30 against airspace intrusions. 39 In contrast
to the above, only one admission was made in late 1953.
Armistice violations continued to be raised at MAC plenary
meetings. At the 30th meeting requested by the KPA/CPV convened
on November 28, the North protested that the South, on November
16, had fired trench mortars into the northern part of the DMZ. The
South refuted the protest by claiming that the joint investigation had
shown that shells had exploded by the forces of water and air, which
was not an armistice violation. At the 33rd MAC meeting called by the
UNC/MAC held on December 18, the South refuted the North’s claim
that three KPA soldiers who had defected through Panmunjom three
months after the armistice was signed were detained by force. On
November 19, when the 91st MAC secretary meeting took place, the
soldiers had requested protection, which they were provided with.
38_ India was chair of the Neutral Nations Repatriation Commission (NNRC) in charge
of repatriating prisoners of war in which also Sweden, Switzerland, Czechoslovakia
and Poland participated. Repatriation of 22,000 prisoners began in September
1953. The NNRC was dissolved on February 22, 1954. From Columbia University,
op. cit., Paragraph 51(b); Downs, op. cit., p. 90; Reuterswärd, “NNRC - Vad var
det?: Repatrieringskommissionen i Korea 1953-54,” Yoboseyo (December 1975),
no. 4, pp. 13, 15, 17.
39_ Downs, op. cit., p. 103; Kukpang chôngbo ponbu, op. cit., 1993, pp. 32, 255, 256,
257, 258, 260, 261, 262, 263, 264, 265, 479.
The Foundation of the MAC and the NNSC and the First Turbulent Years
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