Blood-Boiling Sympathy

For three months, a U.N. Commission has cooled its heels in Seoul, trying to arrange a national election and dodging Communist snipers. The Russians had flatly refused to admit the commission into Korea's Russian-occupied northern zone. Exasperated, the U.S. finally decided to schedule for May an election of its own in Korea's U.S.-occupied southern half. The Communist radio in northern Korea promptly denounced this as an imperialist plot to split Korea, called for financial contributions to support a "merciless and fierce" guerrilla campaign against the Americans. "This way," said one Communist broadcast, "the blood-boiling, brotherly sympathy and devotion of the people of North Korea ... is blooming. . . ."

Last week, the blood-boiling sympathy bloomed even brighter. Along the border between the U.S. and the Soviet zones, Russian soldiers were digging trenches. The Communists called a convention for April 14, to form a "Korean People's Republic," i.e., an all-Korean Communist regime. Anybody was welcome who for one reason or another did not like the Americans or the free elections they proposed to conduct. U.S. occupation authorities did not restrain any Korean politicians who wanted to accept the invitation. Said one U.S. spokesman: "It might be a good thing for them to go north and find out for themselves how the Soviets operate on the home grounds."

Chief among the politicians invited was Kim Koo, Rightist chairman of the Korean Independence Party. Few party-liners were prepared for this proposed alliance. On the day the Communists issued their invitation, Manhattan's Daily Worker referred to Kim as "the notorious old terrorist Kim Koo [who is without] any following among the people. . . ."

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