Off to an Unpromising Start

Ever since 1956 when he outraged flinty old Syngman Rhee by getting himself elected Rhee's Vice President, Dr. John M. Chang, 61, has dreamed of some day becoming No. 1 man in South Korea. With Rhee's downfall last April the way was clear, and fortnight ago Seoul's National Assembly by a vote of 117-107 elected Chang to the premiership, the real seat of power under South Korea's new constitution. But last week intelligent, soft-spoken John Chang found his dream turning into a nightmare.

At the root of Chang's trouble lay the division of his own Democratic Party into "old" and "new" factions. Furious at his failure to win the premiership away from Chang. Old Democratic Leader Kim Do Yun declared that any member of his faction who joined Chang's Cabinet would be considered a turncoat Result was that although Chang offered Cabinet jobs to five Old Democrats, only one--Transportation Minister Chung Hun Joo--accepted.

Last week Minister Chung stepped up to the speaker's platform in the National Assembly to make a "personal explanation" of his reasons for joining the Cabinet. Before he could finish speaking, one Old Democratic legislator rushed forward, grabbed Chung's collar and began shaking him like a dog. Other Assemblymen pitched in for a free-for-all. Ten minutes later Minister Chung got up off the floor, battered and bruised. In the uproar the speaker hastily adjourned the session.

Harried John Chang, a prominent Roman Catholic layman, is full of eminently sensible plans for Korea. To help restore the nation's derelict economy, he wants a cut of 200,000 men in South Korea's 630,000 man army, Asia's largest outside Red China. He is also committed to improving South Korea's troubled relations with Japan. But he has little chance of carrying his program through, unless South Korea can shake off the addiction to anarchy displayed by politicians and ordinary citizens alike since the revolt against Rhee. Pondering South Korea's paralysis, Seoul's Hankook Ilbo last week mused: "We cannot but worry about the future of the parliamentary system in this country."

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