BATTLE OF KOREA: The Prisoners Speak

The lid was off, and the story could be told of 18 secret sessions over the past four weeks in the tents of Panmunjom. The meetings brought the Korean armistice negotiations to the verge of total collapse last week. Begun in high optimism —and under a great illusion on both sides —the secret sessions had ended with the U.N. surprised, and the Communists outraged, at how few of the prisoners in U.N. hands are willing to go back to Communist territory.

Back in March, the U.N. negotiators suspected that the Reds' insistence on repatriation of all prisoners might soften if...