Nevada Appeal at 150: July 27, 1953: Truce signed; Korean war front quiet after three years

July 27, 1953: Truce signed; Korean war front quiet after three years

Seoul, Tuesday, July 28 — (IP) — The uncertain and uneasy quiet of a negotiated truce settled over the Korean battle lines today.

The armistice documents ending the bitter, stalemated efforts of the Communists to seize all Korea by force were signed at 10:01 a.m. Monday in the “truce village” of Panmunjom.

Exactly 12 hours later official order for a cease-fire were broadcast to troops on both sides of the battle lines. The war was over after 37 months. The last Red artillery shell of the war burst on the eastern front 10 minutes earlier. South Korean troops on the central front continued a rattle of small arms fire almost to the moment of the deadline.

Then the strange silence of the cease-fire settled over the moonlit lines.

But the end of the military phase of the long and costly United Nations collective efforts to end aggression must be followed by a delicate political conference to start within 90 days. And this will in the end determine whether the truce will last: whether the cease-fire can be extended into a genuine peace for Korea.

The truce and the cease-fire wrote the end to a “police action” which developed into one of the longest and most costly wars in American history.

This continues the Appeal’s review of news stories and headlines during its Sesquicentennial year.