phase of the war that Paik was honored with the recapture of both his birthplace and the capital of North Korea, Pyongyang, on October 19, 1950. After spending several days securing the city, he was ordered further northward toward the Yalu River, on the Chinese border. It was Paik who was one of the first commanders of the Allied nations to realize The People’s Republic of China’s intervention into the conflict. Paik, being fluent in Chinese, was personally able to interrogate the first Chinese prisoners of war who were captured; however, his warnings of the intervention went unheeded by the overall theater command, who did not believe that the PRC had entered the conflict. Later, once the threat of the Chinese was fully realized Paik would go on to assume command of the defense of northwestern Korea but was continuously pushed back both by the superior numbers and ferocity of the Chinese Second Phase Offensive. It was during this stage of the war that Paik was again promoted to the command of the ROK 1st Corp, which was tasked with the securing of eastern Korea. After he arrived to assume his new command, he found the ROK 1st Corp to be made up of green recruits and conscripts who had neither sufficient training nor battle experience; because of this, he would spend much of his early time at this post intensively training his men and fortifying the battle line. Armistice Negotiations Armistice talks between the United Nations and the North Koreans and Chinese began in July 1951. Paik was selected as the South Korean representative. Paik was fundamentally opposed to the peace negotiations, fearing that it would lead to the abandonment of a unified Korea. By August, Paik was told to report back to the ROK I Corps where he oversaw the heavy fighting around the 38th parallel at the Punchbowl, a large crater surrounded by hills, and Heartbreak Ridge. His troops were now fighting a war of attrition, with both the United Nations and the Communist digging in and ever more fortifying their positions. Just as with the trench warfare of the First World War, the casualties were atrocious and there was little to show for the loss of life. In May 1952, Paik expressed to President Eisenhower the strong opposition of the Korean people to an armistice. However, due to the stagnation of the war, in the end