Lot 55D128: Black Book, Tab 13: Telegram
The Senior United Nations Command Delegate in Korea (Joy) to the Commander in Chief, Far East (Ridgway)1
HNC–188 1. In response to telephone rqst from Colonel Chang, Senior Communist Liaison Officer, Colonel Kinney, Senior UN Comd Liaison Off met Chang at outpost line vic of Pan Mun Jom at 1500K hours this date. Chang handed Kinney an unaddressed statement in English as follows:
“At 1045 AM Aug 7, over 40 armed personnel of your side advanced along the highway to the bridge 500 meters from Pan Mun Jom and on arriving near the bridge fired with light machine gun at Pan Mun Jom neutral zone.
“At 1100 AM 6 of the over 40 men (among them one carrying a pistol and the rest carrying automatic rifles and tommy guns) crossed the bridge and on reaching over 200 meters from Pan Mun Jom fired at unarmed personnel of our side in the Pan Mun Jom neutral zone. At the same time heavy and light machine guns East of the bridge kept up their fire on the neutral zone. The automatic rifles and tommy guns fired altogether more than 60 rounds and the light machine gun fired 1 burst. Your side frequently fire at Pan Mun Jom from hills North and South of Kam Aedong and there are bullets to prove this. The above-mentioned incident further occurred yesterday. I am instructed by our senior delegate to call the serious attention of your side to the above-mentioned situation.”
2. Kinney asked Chang for whom the statement was intended. The Communist officer replied “for you but I rqst you take the matter up with Admiral Joy at once.”
3. I recommend that Commanding General, Eighth Army be rqstd to investigate this matter without delay and report soonest.
4. Suspicion exists in minds of some staff officers here if such incident actually did occur it might possibly have been inspired by certain elements among ROK’s.
- Repeated for information to Washington for the Joint Chiefs of Staff and to the Commanding General of the Eighth U.S. Army in Korea (Van Fleet).↩