China printed anti-American Korean War First edition signed by authors

Burchett, Wilfred & Alan Winnington. Koje Unscreened. Peking: Published by the Authors, 1953. First Edition.

171 pp. 8vo. Printed in the People’s Republic of China.

Signed and dated by both authors on the title page (“20 Nov. 1953, Kaesong”). Original pictorial wrappers.

A scarce Cold War-era propaganda work issued directly from Beijing, documenting alleged atrocities at the Koje-do Prison Camp during the Korean War, where thousands of North Korean and Chinese prisoners of war were held by U.S. and U.N. forces. The book sought to counter Western reporting and amplify the Communist version of events for international audiences. This 171-page Peking edition, “Published by the Authors,” is less common than the shorter London issue.

Wilfred Burchett (1911–1983) was an Australian foreign correspondent best known as the first Western journalist to enter Hiroshima after the atomic bombing. His eyewitness dispatch on the devastation and radiation sickness was controversial, as were his later writings sympathetic to Communist regimes in Asia. Branded a traitor by many in the West, Burchett nonetheless became a prominent and influential voice in Cold War journalism.

Alan Winnington (1910–1983) was a British journalist who reported extensively from East Asia for left-wing and Communist outlets. During the Korean War he gained notoriety for his reporting from the North Korean side, including graphic accounts of U.S. actions. Like Burchett, Winnington was effectively exiled from his home country due to his political stance, spending much of his career working for publications in East Germany and China.

VG condition.

A rare signed copy of a controversial and important document of early PRC publishing and Cold War propaganda.