Monday, Jun. 27, 1960

New Rules

The Acting President did not want to put undue pressure on Seoul's harassed, discredited 'legislature. But, suggested Huh Chung, there would be "no more arrests of Assemblymen" if they would just go ahead and approve the new constitution. Syngman Rhee's old enemies, the Democrats, darkly passed the word that anyone who opposed the constitutional amendment, with its tighter safeguards for liberty and individual rights, would be considered an "antirevolutionary." All but three of Rhee's Liberals got the point, and finally, by 208 to 3, the National Assembly approved the new law. "Now the second republic is born!" cried Speaker Kwak Sang Hoon, who "promptly was named the new Acting President, and as such had the ceremonial honor of greeting President Eisenhower at the presidential palace on Sunday. Huh Chung himself took over the job of Acting Premier, which commands the real power under the new constitution.

With the new constitution authorized, Kwak, Huh and the Assembly will be automatically out of office on July 29. Then elections will be held to choose South Korea's new leaders. It was the most encouraging sign yet that South Korea was recovering from its post-revolutionary jag of vengeance and mutual acrimony, which at one time had brought the country perilously close to chaos.

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