<P> In the months after the Shenyang conference Peng Dehuai went to Beijing several times to brief Mao and Zhou about the heavy casualties suffered by Chinese troops and the increasing difficulty of keeping the front lines supplied with basic necessities . Peng was convinced that the war would be protracted, and that neither side would be able to achieve victory in the near future . On 24 February 1952, the Military Commission, presided over by Zhou, discussed the PVA's logistical problems with members of various government agencies involved in the war effort . After the government representatives emphasized their inability to meet the demands of the war, Peng, in an angry outburst, shouted: "You have this and that problem...You should go to the front and see with your own eyes what food and clothing the soldiers have! Not to speak of the casualties! For what are they giving their lives? We have no aircraft . We have only a few guns . Transports are not protected . More and more soldiers are dying of starvation . Can't you overcome some of your difficulties?" The atmosphere became so tense that Zhou was forced to adjourn the conference . Zhou subsequently called a series of meetings, where it was agreed that the PVA would be divided into three groups, to be dispatched to Korea in shifts; to accelerate the training of Chinese pilots; to provide more anti-aircraft guns to the front lines; to purchase more military equipment and ammunition from the Soviet Union; to provide the army with more food and clothing; and, to transfer the responsibility of logistics to the central government . </P> <P> The on - again, off - again armistice negotiations continued for two years, first at Kaesong, on the border between North and South Korea, and then at the neighboring village of Panmunjom . A major, problematic negotiation point was prisoner of war (POW) repatriation . The PVA, KPA, and UN Command could not agree on a system of repatriation because many PVA and KPA soldiers refused to be repatriated back to the north, which was unacceptable to the Chinese and North Koreans . In the final armistice agreement, signed on 27 July 1953, a Neutral Nations Repatriation Commission, under the chairman Indian General K.S. Thimayya, was set up to handle the matter . </P> <P> In 1952, the United States elected a new president, and on 29 November 1952, the president - elect, Dwight D. Eisenhower, went to Korea to learn what might end the Korean War . With the United Nations' acceptance of India's proposed Korean War armistice, the KPA, the PVA, and the UN Command ceased fire with the battle line approximately at the 38th parallel . Upon agreeing to the armistice, the belligerents established the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), which has since been patrolled by the KPA and ROKA, United States, and Joint UN Commands . </P> <P> The Demilitarized Zone runs northeast of the 38th parallel; to the south, it travels west . The old Korean capital city of Kaesong, site of the armistice negotiations, originally was in pre-war South Korea, but now is part of North Korea . The United Nations Command, supported by the United States, the North Korean People's Army, and the Chinese People's Volunteers, signed the Armistice Agreement on 27 July 1953 to end the fighting . The Armistice also called upon the governments of South Korea, North Korea, China and the United States to participate in continued peace talks . The war is considered to have ended at this point, even though there was no peace treaty . North Korea nevertheless claims that it won the Korean War . </P>

Who was president went the war ended in 1953