Little Switch & Big Switch Operation (1953)

Little Switch and Big Switch were the code-names for the large exchange of prisoners of war during the Korean War in 1953. It was preceded by Operation Little Switch, which involved the exchange of sick and wounded prisoners.

Negotiations aimed at securing the release of POWs, or at the very least the exchange of sick and wounded, began early in the Korean War but were bogged down over the question of voluntary repatriation, or whether or not a prisoner had the right to refuse repatriation to his home country.

These talks dragged on until March 1953, when Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai stated on Peking radio that the Communist governments were prepared to discuss an exchange of sick and wounded POWs under the terms of the 1949 Geneva Convention Relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War. The agreement was signed on 11 April 1953, with Operation Little Switch beginning on 20 April at Panmunjom.

In total, the operation freed 684 United Nations Command (UNC) prisoners in exchange for 6,670 from the North Korean and Chinese forces.

After Little Switch, UNC negotiators continued to press for the release of the rest of their prisoners, and in June 1953 another agreement was signed that paved the way for Operation Big Switch. This operation, which took place from 5 August to 6 September 1953 in a neutral zone near Panmunjom, involved the exchange of 12,773 prisoners (primarily South Koreans) for 70,183 North Korean, 5,640 Chinese, 3,597 Americans and 945 British POWs. In accordance with the ideological nature of the Korean War, the UNC prisoners were received at a compound named Freedom Village.