(July 27, 1953)
Comrade Li Kenong, and inform Premier Kim and Commander Peng:
Your telegram of 24:00 on July 26 and the briefing are both acknowledged. We agree with the opinions on all points raised in your telegram. Since Commander Peng will not attend the signing, the text of the speech may be broadcast after Premier Kim’s message to the entire nation is released at 5:00 p.m. on the 28th. The revisions we have made to the draft are now telegraphed to you: The title should be changed to “Speech Delivered by Commander Peng Dehuai After the Signing of the Korean Armistice Agreement,” and a note should be added beneath the title: “At the Korean Front, July 28, 1953.” The first paragraph of the original draft should be changed to:
“The Korean Armistice Agreement was signed at Panmunjom at 10:00 a.m. on July 27, 1953. As of twelve hours after the signing of the agreement, all hostile acts in Korea have completely ceased, and the Korean armistice long desired by the people of the whole world has been realized.” The last two sentences of the fifth paragraph of the original draft, “Now the two negotiating parties have reached an honorable agreement and signed today’s armistice agreement,” should be changed to: “Only in the end did the two negotiating parties reach an honorable agreement and sign the armistice agreement yesterday.” The first sentence of the eighth, ninth, tenth, and eleventh paragraphs of the original draft, “On this day when the armistice agreement is signed,”
All of the above are to be revised accordingly. The specific broadcast time will be telegraphed on the evening of the 27th.
Mao Zedong
3:30 a.m., July 27, 1953
[1] This is a telegram from Mao Zedong to Li Kenong, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Central People’s Government and head of the Chinese People’s Volunteers delegation in the Korean armistice negotiations.