The Striking Parallel

SOUTH KOREA

In terms of America's role in Asia, a series of striking parallels exist between South Viet Nam and South Korea. Both are segments of former colonies--one French, the other Japanese--divided arbitrarily north from south between Communist and free regimes. Both were invaded by their northern neighbors at the urging of Red China; both were--and still are--defended by the U.S. The Korean War ended with a negotiated truce that left 50,000 U.S. troops permanently on station in the south to prevent any subsequent Communist aggression. Those who think that the U.S. position in Viet Nam today is futile or "immoral" should take a look at South Korea.

This week as South Korea's President Chung Hee Park visits in Washington, his nation is moving toward economic takeoff, the scars of war are nearly healed, and a viable (if still somewhat fragile) democracy is emerging. New office buildings rise over the war-battered roofs of Seoul, and a new bridge spans the Han River--four times fought over in the course of the war. Shops that once carried only black-market goods from American PXs are stocked to bursting with local wares, ranging from handbags and Silla Dynasty bowls to hand-woven Korean silk and brocades. In the southern port of Pusan, bonded processing factories turn out pants, sweaters, blouses and children's clothes for the U.S. market; other plants make electric fans, telephones and transistor radios for export to Southeast Asia and the West. At Ulsan, a $20 million oil refinery--jointly built by the government and Gulf Oil--is producing 35,000 barrels a day while other private U.S. capital is invested in everything from $10 million fertilizer plants to a $180,000 mink ranch near Pusan.

Old Dodge, New Tricks. Still, a typical city worker earns only $24 a month, and although the runaway inflation of last year has been largely checked, it remains a persistent threat. Nearly a third of the 1965 budget will be supported by U.S. commodity imports, but U.S. aid--$4.1 billion since 1945--is being reduced, and the shift is away from direct grants to long-term development loans. Self-sufficiency for South Korea is within reach, most American observers feel, but it hinges largely on continued political stability.

The man responsible for that is President Park, 48, the tough, taciturn little general who seized power in a military coup d'etat four years ago. Since his emergence as an iron-jawed, hardhanded dictator, Park has won Asian respect by moving slowly but surely toward civilian rule. Though he was elected to the presidency by a mere 156,000 votes in 1963, Park's Democratic-Republican Party now controls 110 of the Assembly's 175 seats, keeps the opposition Popular Party (62 seats) well in hand. But the dangers common to Asian democracy remain endemic. Last week, before taking off to Washington.Park reasserted his hard hand by crushing an incipient coup that had been mounted by 20 disgruntled army officers.

Peeling the Onion. A man of severe personal austerity (he drives an aging Dodge, sleeps only five hours a night), Park has as his administration's motto, "Seeing is believing." To that end, he travels frequently through the countryside, sharing rice wine and kimchi--the garlic-laden pickled cabbage of Korea --with farmers who still live and labor much as they did centuries ago. No gladhander, he adopts a professional role in explaining his aims to the people. The current goal: ratification of a Korean-Japanese treaty (TIME, April 2) that would normalize relations between the two antagonistic neighbors for the first time in this century.

Deep undercurrents of animosity remain from Japan's 35-year colonial repression of Korea, and Opposition Leader Po Sun Yun is trying to capitalize on it by charging Park with "a sellout policy with too many concessions." Although the treaty does concede to Japan access to rich fishing waters inside the former limit set by Syngman Rhee, it also provides for Japanese payment of $300 million in reparations, $200 million in longterm, low-interest loans--and the promise of vast new markets that may do much to ease South Korea's 10% unemployment. Yet, to many Koreans who fear Japanese economic domination, the treaty sounds dangerous. "Negotiating with the Japanese is like peeling a green onion," said one Korean recently. "You never know what's there until it's all gone."

Park is counting heavily on the Washington visit, and the prestige it will generate, to help pass the treaty. And Lyndon Johnson seems willing to help: he sent Protocol Chief Lloyd Hand in a presidential jet to pick up Park in Seoul. More importantly for the U.S.. Park arrives in Washington far from emptyhanded. In return for continued U.S. aid and Washington's political support, he is prepared to offer up to 30,000 combat-ready Korean troops for service in South Viet Nam.

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