NEWS OF THE WEEK Meanwhile, in Korea itself Chinese intentions
continue to pose an enigma. Their forces, together apparently with some North Koreans, continue to maintain pressure on the steadily contracting bridgehead round the port of Hungnam. But they seem to have neither artillery nor armour with them, and so far they have not seriously interfered with the evacuation of X Corps, which may well have been completed by the time these words appear in print. Further west, North Korean troops are probing, in a sector held by South Koreans, the United Nations' defences in the zone of the 38th Parallel. But the main Chinese armies seem to be concentrated some way to the north of this thinly-held front, and the questions of whether, and if so when and how far, they mean to advance are all unanswerable. Strategically, as well as politically, it always pays to keep your adversary guessing ; but even the fatalistic Chinese soldier does not like sitting about in a North Korean winter and being bombed, and the twenty-odd divisions of " volunteers " from across the Yalu are serving no useful purpose in their present situation unless it is intended to employ them offensively. If it should appear that the Chinese are definitely refraining,from crossing the 38th Parallel, some hope of agreement
would still remain. '
