News-Info-Alerts

To: ALL

From: Andi Wolos & Bob Necci
(POW-MIA InterNetwork)

Re: China and Korean War POWs

Date: March 03, 1998

Confirming the research, testimony and beliefs of all too many, AP is reporting that 'hundres of American servicemen were shuttles through a clandestine network of prsion camps in China during the Korean War."

The admission comes as the result of study of previously classified intelligence reports from the US Army. According to the reports, the US was well aware of the POWs existence, tracked them closely and that the US 'feared for their lives."

Evidently the US fear was none too great as they ultimately abandoned the men at the conclusion of the 'Forgotten War'... leaving the men forgotten POWs and their families thrown to the wind.

As a result of the disclosure, the US has requested People's Liberation Army records in order to establish the fate of the missing men. China, as expected, has consistently denied holding men and considers the POW-MIA question answered.

However, a quote from one of the eight secret reports state - "One of the most significant features in U.N. POW treatment and policy is the movement of U.N. POWs into Manchuria and into South China," an Army intelligence summary dated Dec. 15, 1951, said. Its unidentified author added that he believed "Manchurian camps house a great many U.S. POWs, and Manchuria is a staging area or collecting point for U.S. POWs." The reports are each titled - "UN Prisoners of War Camps and Conditions in Korea, Manchuria and China," and labeled "secret."

According to the documents, roughly 2,500 US POWs were in Manchuria with an additional 1,500 in other regions of China. This would account for nearly 50% of the 8,100 remaining unaccounted-for men from the Korean War.

One of the reports continues, "Because of obvious diplomatic complications ... , it follows that the communists would neither wish to return these men to U.S. control nor admit to their existence at this time," the report said. It cited "almost conclusive evidence" that some POWs were being supervised by Soviets. "These factors, together with the usefulness of U.S. POWs in a slave labor capacity, render the ultimate fate of any U.S. personnel in Manchurian camps in grave doubt," the report said.

This newest disclosure simply dovetails with what has been said all along by families, activists, and men like Phil Corso and Jan Sejna... American POWs were taken by hostile Communist forces in China and the Soviet Union, held in captivity and not returned during the formal Prisoner exchanges.

Once again, this is a classic example of too little, too late... the USG has known since 1951 US POWs were being held and were unrepatriated and yet fully 45 years passes before the families and public are permitted to know what the USG knew all along.

And the question remains... where are the men?