On July 27, 1953, the Korean Armistice Agreement was signed in Panmunjom, marking the victory of the struggle to resist US aggression and aid Korea.
However, the signing of this armistice agreement was not easy and took years of negotiations. In the course of negotiations, comrades such as Li Kenong and Qiao Guanhua made indelible contributions.
After the armistice was signed, the negotiators returned home, just in time for the Mid-Autumn Festival, and Premier Zhou hosted a banquet to greet them. However, an embarrassing scene occurred at the banquet.
After drinking three glasses of wine, Qiao Guanhua began to speak presumptuously, claiming in front of Premier Zhou that he had handled almost all important affairs during his time in Korea, believing that Li Kenong only cared about sitting in the rear and did not do any actual work. This sentence was undoubtedly disrespectful to Li Kenong, and Premier Zhou became furious when he heard this, reprimanded Qiao Guanhua on the spot, accused him of ignorance and frivolity, and asked him to go back to review.
Although Chen Yi and other comrades enlightened in time and eased the premier's anger, Premier Zhou sternly asked Qiao Guanhua to go back immediately to write the inspection.
Early the next morning, after waking up drunk, Qiao Guanhua realized that his gaffe was seriously inappropriate and felt guilty, and immediately wrote a profound review and went to apologize to Li Kenong.
In fact, Li Kenong had already learned that night that Qiao Guanhua had spoken ill of him. However, he is no stranger to Qiao Guanhua.
Li Kenong knew that Qiao Guanhua had two shortcomings: gaffes after drinking and some arrogance. However, on the diplomatic front, Qiao Guanhua is a rare talent.
Therefore, despite being offended, Li Kenong did not blame him, but gave him a lot of comfort and understanding. One might ask why Li Kenong was transferred from intelligence to North Korea for diplomatic negotiations. In fact, it was personally designated by Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou.
In the later stages of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, the United Nations Army began to bow its head and propose armistice negotiations. However, negotiations need to be supported by battlefield strength, so it has become extremely difficult and impossible to reach an agreement in a short period of time.
For this reason, Chairman Mao decided to put Li Kenong in charge of the negotiations, taking into account his experience in struggle. However, Chairman Mao wanted to have a deputy for Li Kenong, but there was no suitable person at the time, so Premier Zhou recommended Qiao Guanhua.
Chairman Mao immediately agreed, praising Qiao Guanhua for being decisive and sober, young and promising, and suitable to serve as Li Kenong's deputy. Qiao Guanhua soon moved into Pyongyang with the negotiating team and began arduous negotiations.
Before departure, Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou met with them in person, announced disciplinary requirements, and stressed that because Li Kenong was an intelligence worker, it was not appropriate to appear in public. However, the frontline work of this negotiation is handled by Li Kenong, and other personnel need to actively cooperate.
Although Li Kenong's health was not good and he went to North Korea with pain, he still went all out, and the implementation of specific tasks was left to Qiao Guanhua and others, so he rarely appeared in the public eye.
Perhaps it is precisely because of this that Qiao Guanhua is a little dissatisfied with Li Kenong.
However, as mentioned earlier, Li Kenong attached great importance to Qiao Guanhua and did not blame him for his gaffe. After Qiao Guanhua made disrespectful remarks to Li Kenong, although Premier Zhou was very angry, he did not severely punish Qiao Guanhua in the end.
What is less known is that this is not Premier Zhou letting it go, but Li Kenong personally found Premier Zhou to intercede for Qiao Guanhua, emphasizing that Qiao Guanhua is still young, and the gaffe is also out of control after drinking, which can be forgiven, and only needs to criticize education. In the end, Premier Zhou accepted Li Kenong's request and did not punish Qiao Guanhua.
It was not until after Li Kenong's death that Premier Zhou told Qiao Guanhua about the situation, which made him feel very sorry and felt that he had lost an excellent mentor. Summary: On July 27, 1953, the signing of the Korean Armistice Agreement represented the victory of the struggle to resist US aggression and aid Korea.