Almost all American prisoners returned at the end of the Korean War had been held in Chinese-operated camps inside North Korea. The Pentagon’s position is that at most several dozen U.S. prisoners were held in China itself, in three cities, and that all were returned in 1953 except fifteen aviators held for a few years afterward and two CIA officers released in the 1970s.
Declassified CIA and Army intelligence files from the war describe something else: a deliberate three-tier camp system, in which only one tier was to be disclosed to the United States.
- Secret U.S. POW camps in China — the “normal,” “reform” and “peace” camps, the Harbin processing facility, and the cities where secret camps were reported.
- Americans hunted in Shantou — the January 1953 shoot-down, the manhunt, the bounty, and the two men reported marched through the streets of Shantou.
- The secret file Beijing would not turn over — a nine-to-ten-page record on Sgt. Richard Desautels, described by its custodian in 2003 and never produced.
See also the case of Sgt. Gerald Glasser, removed from a Chinese-run camp by Chinese officers in 1953 and never repatriated, and Lt. j.g. James Deane, tracked by U.S. intelligence in Chinese custody for about two years after 1956.
中文
关于朝鲜战争期间在华美国战俘的征集启事
美国战俘调查项目（POW Investigative Project）正在寻找有关朝鲜战争与冷战期间被中方俘获、据美方记录最后确知仍然存活但未被遣返的美国军人的资料。
我们尤其希望联系：当年在战俘营、医院或押运部门工作过的人员及其家人；曾见过外国战俘的普通居民；研究相关历史的学者。
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我们的目的是查明这些人的下落，而不是追究战争年代任何人的责任。未经允许，我们不会公开消息来源的姓名。
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