(November 15, 1952)
Let U.S. imperialism go ahead and fight if it wants to; the more it fights, the more certain its defeat will be. Last month alone, in an area of just four square kilometers[2], they lost twenty thousand men. On two very small positions, the fighting raged back and forth for over twenty days, resulting in the killing and wounding of eighteen thousand enemy soldiers. Our Volunteer Army is not only capable of conducting mobile warfare; we can now also fight in fortified positions. We have dug numerous tunnels into the mountainside, much like a “Beijing Hotel.” Even when the enemy captures the summit, they still cannot seize our positions. Behind this “Beijing Hotel” there is another “hotel.” When the enemy advances, we fall back to the rear position; once they have entered our defenses, we inflict heavy casualties upon them. By repeating this maneuver several times, we inflict enormous losses on the enemy. In the past, our soldiers lived in single-story barracks with very basic facilities. Now they reside in these “Beijing Hotels,” which serve both defensive and offensive purposes.


There are four major disadvantages facing U.S. imperialism in war. First is the loss of life. Previously, the ratio of our casualties to those of the U.S. forces was 1 to 1.8; now it has widened to 1 to 2.5. Second is the cost. War requires money, and during the Korean War the U.S. expended eight to nine times as much as we did. Where does this money come from? Only through taxation. Third is strategy: it is impossible to simultaneously defend both the eastern and western fronts. Fourth is internal strife—among the people, between the two domestic political parties, and among the imperialist powers themselves. We, however, face no such strategic difficulties nor internal conflicts. Although war inevitably entails casualties and expenditure, our losses are significantly lower than those of the U.S. (1 to 2.5), and our spending is also much less (1 to 8 or 9). Both casualties and financial costs can be regarded only as partial disadvantages. Therefore, while U.S. imperialism has four disadvantages, we have but one.


On October 8, at the Korean Armistice Talks, the U.S. delegation declared that its proposal was “firm, final, and unchangeable.” You have three “s’s”—“firm,” “final,” and “unchangeable”—while I have only one “f”—“fight.” Ultimately, we must compel the U.S. side to revise its proposal so that it becomes “wavering, not final, and subject to change.”