Fighting in Korea, our troops gradually recognized that it was possible to rout the enemy troops but difficult to capture them. The main problem was that our policy towards prisoners of war (POWs) had not been made known to the enemy, and the language barrier made it more difficult to persuade the enemy troops to surrender. Not incorrigibly obstinate, the enemy troops might have laid down theirs arms if they had known we did not kill POWs. During the First Campaign in the Korean War, it was said that the enemy troops were easily beaten but rarely captured. That meant that the American and puppet soldiers apparently did not know yet our policy.

In one of the battles, the 39th Army caught an American soldier who could speak Chinese. He asked, "Are you Koreans?" "No, we Chinese," our soldiers answered. Our soldiers told him that they would spare his life if he laid down his arms. He surrendered his weapon and called up dozens of Americans to surrender as well. However our psychological warfare did not work well, being handicapped by language barriers.

Generally speaking, our soldiers would not search POWs' pockets nor would they take POWs' personal belongings. The 115th Division held a POW who had eight gold rings on his fingers, and he did not lose any of them. He admired our policy and discipline. Among the American prisoners captured by the 40th Army was an officer who had graduated from the U.S. Military Academy. Although he had a reactionary attitude, he did appreciate the fact that we did not search our prisoners' pockets. "There is no other army in the world that does not take away prisoners' property," he said. "You are fighting bravely, and are not searching your prisoners' pockets. You have no match in the world if you had airplanes and large artillery."

A few commanders were interested in prisoners' pens and watches; they wanted to have that "foreign-made stuff." As soon as the thefts were discovered, the men were criticized and ordered to return the prisoners' belongings.