Rhee Retreats

Ever since the Korean armistice was signed, Syngman Rhee had been threatening to upset it. Time and again, Korea's stubborn and tough-minded president blustered that he would send his army northward in January, whether or not a peace conference was under way. In conversation with U.S. envoys, he haggled over aid to his country's economy, demanded an artificially high exchange rate, denounced as dictatorial the U.S.'s insistence that it be allowed to oversee the spending of U.S. relief money in Korea. Last week, on two counts, Syngman Rhee switched his line.

Dapper in a blue serge suit, Rhee faced forty-odd newsmen. Asked one reporter: "Your six-month waiting period will run out on January 28. What military action will you take then?" Rhee's answer left his listeners staring with surprise:

"Peaceful means are the best conceivable method for achieving national unification . . . The period you mentioned does not mean much, since I only made it clear that I would give a go-day period to conduct political negotiations after the convocation of a formal political conference." One newsman pressed the point, and Rhee made it clearer: his armies will sit tight until the political conference, whenever it starts, has had 90 days to attempt a settlement.

Rhee's press remarks were meant for home consumption, but they made headlines around the world. The next day, ROK Foreign Minister Pyun Yung Tai declared that the ROK still reserves the "right" to take action on January 28. But the fact is that Rhee no longer threatens to resume the war next month.

Why did Rhee retreat? A succession of high-ranking, plain-speaking American visitors had apparently convinced him that neither the U.S. public nor the U.S. Congress would support him if he persisted in his policy. U.S. economic advisers warned him that Congress has specifically earmarked only $50 million for rehabilitation, with the other $450 million dependent on his signing an agreement. Two days before his press conference, Rhee quietly signed a $500-million rehabilitation agreement with the U.S.

U.S. military men have also kept Rhee's fuel and ammunition supplies on a day-today basis and have made troop dispositions, which should hinder Rhee's opportunities to renew the war alone.

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