Rebuke for Park

When they went to the polls under martial-law conditions last November, South Koreans dutifully gave 91% approval to a new constitution that awarded President Chung Hee Park sweeping powers and unlimited terms of office in which to use them. But recent elections for the National Assembly provide a different story. Despite curbs on press coverage, legislation banning door-to-door canvassing and the best efforts of the secret police to stir up trouble within the opposition, Park's Democratic Republican Party won only 38% of the vote, while candidates who campaigned against him polled a surprising 42%.

Park suffered a slight loss of face, but little else. His new constitution allows him to appoint one-third of the assembly's 219 delegates; last week the rubber-stamp National Conference for Unification overwhelmingly approved Park's nominees, guaranteeing him a comfortable majority.

At the same time, the regime pressed on with its efforts to fulfill Park's goal of "maximum efficiency in regimenting national strength." Under one typical new decree, South Koreans are no longer allowed to serve liquor or food to guests at weddings or funerals; anyone who wears mourning dress during funeral periods, uses funeral flags, or displays more than three wreaths at family ceremonies stands to get fined up to $1,250. Too many social customs, explained Health and Social Affairs Minister Lee Kyung Ho, are "wasteful in terms of money and time. They must be corrected."

Opposition leaders acknowledged that the election had brought them no power to resist Park. Said one of them, former Foreign Minister Yil Hyung Chyung: "All we can do is to speak out to remind people that there is an alternative."

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