Back to the Land

Spring moved north across the scarred face of Korea. Beyond Seoul, the forsythia was yellow and the trees were in leaf. At Panmunjom, the U.N. negotiators waited for some break in the wall of Communist obduracy; in the mud of the front lines, the soldiers waited their turn to go home. Thousands of Korean farmers could not wait. They moved north with the spring, a patient, hopeful tide, back to their own acres or to those of families wiped out in the war.

Tragic victims of battle, the South Koreans as a whole came through the winter (mildest in a quarter-century) fairly well, although in the towns and cities hoarding, inflation and last year's drought made food hard to come by. To cut down imports of food, authorities resolved that the maximum of land should be worked this year. In the south, where the R.O.K. army's winter operations had almost cleaned out guerrillas, plowing and planting were already well along. In central Korea, farmers moved in close under the stabilized battle line.

The U.N. has bought 171,000 tons of fertilizer (superphosphate and ammonium sulphate) on world markets; 50,000 tons have already been unloaded at Pusan and Inchon. Except in a few drought-stricken areas, there is enough seed rice for this year's crop. For those who cannot pay or get credit, seed and fertilizer are doled out free. The myun jons, or township supervisors, are settling disputes and watching out for claim jumpers. So far there has been little trouble: by annihilating one farm family in ten, war has made enough land for all.

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