Telegram on the Handling of Protests Against the Enemy’s Massacre of Prisoners of War

(January 13, 1953)

Comrade Ding Guoyu [1]:

Your telegram of 23:00 on January 12 [2] has been received. (1) The draft protest reported in your telegram is approved and should be delivered to the other side on the 14th. (2) In the future, routine protests of this nature may be handled according to established practice without the need to request instructions each time. However, if the case is relatively serious and the circumstances are more complex, requiring a more emphatic expression that cannot be handled according to routine, a draft must be prepared and submitted for instructions, and it may only be issued after approval.

Mao Zedong
24:00, January 13

Printed based on the original text reviewed and approved by Mao Zedong.

Notes
[1] Ding Guoyu was then involved in the leadership work of the Korean-Chinese delegation in the Korean armistice negotiations.
[2] Refers to Ding Guoyu’s telegram of January 13, 1953, to Mao Zedong, Kim Il Sung, and Peng Dehuai, requesting instructions on handling the protest against the enemy’s massacre of prisoners of war. The telegram reported that the enemy had announced that one of our captured personnel had been found hanged on January 9 in Prisoner of War Camp No. 5 at Sangmudae and drafted a protest for approval.