No Words for the Bitterness

By Marguerite Johnson

A nation in mourning points a finger at its northern neighbor

Barely a month after the Soviet downing of Korean Air Lines Flight 007, flags were again at half-staff throughout South Korea. Nightclubs, bars and movie theaters were shut down for three days; store clerks, officeworkers and government officials wore black ties or black ribbons of mourning. As the flag-draped coffins were brought home, the anguished wails of newly widowed women and bereft families once again echoed through the corridors of Seoul's Kimpo Airport.

On Thursday, more than a million South Koreans gathered in a chill rain for an emotional memorial service in Seoul's huge Sixteenth of May Plaza. On a long altar surrounded by thousands of white and yellow chrysanthemums, 17 incense urns were placed in front of photographs of the deceased. Later, military pallbearers wearing white masks, a traditional mark of respect for the dead, led the procession to the cemetery. Representatives from 47 countries were present, including a seven-member U.S. delegation headed by Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger. In a trembling voice, South Korean Prime Minister Kim Sang Hyup asked: "Can words properly describe our bitterness? Can any words help control our wrath?"

This time the mourning was for 17 South Koreans, including four Cabinet ministers and ten key government officials, who had been killed when a bomb ripped through the Martyr's Mausoleum in the Burmese capital, Rangoon. The South Korean delegation had gathered at the site for a wreath-laying ceremony at the beginning of what was to have been an 18-day tour of South Asian and Pacific countries. South Korean President Chun Doo Hwan, 52, the apparent target of the attack, had not yet arrived at the ceremony and escaped unharmed.

The attack ended a diplomatic initiative that had begun with high expectations and that was to have broadened South Korea's ties to other nations in the region. Burma's President U San Yu condemned the bombing as a "premeditated and dastardly act" by terrorists who he said were seeking to disrupt relations between his government and South Korea. India's Prime Minister Indira Gandhi called the slayings "a great calamity, which deserves to be condemned." Said Australia's Prime Minister Bob Hawke: "No one can gain or draw satisfaction from this wanton act of terrorism." Both India and Australia were to have been hosts to the Koreans later on the tour. In Los Angeles, 600 Koreans attended a memorial service at the Wilshire United Methodist Church. Said Korean Consul Moon Ik Chang: "We are very shattered."

Upon his return to Seoul, President Chun described the bombing as a "tenacious provocation by the band of Communists in North Korea." A possible motive: North Korean frustration over South Korea's increasingly active diplomacy toward nations that, like Burma, maintain ties with North Korea. The government of North Korea called the accusation "preposterous and ridiculous." Police in Rangoon arrested two Koreans last week, though there was no confirmation that they were from the North. The Burmese reported that another Korean was killed when he tried to escape arrest.

According to diplomats in neighboring Thailand, the Burmese now think the bomb attack was the work of five North Korean assassins. The charge was plausible. In 1968, a North Korean hit team tried but failed to get into the presidential palace in Seoul. Canadian police arrested several North Koreans believed to have been plotting to assassinate Chun during a visit to Canada last year.

Still, given the secrecy that shrouds life in Burma, one of the world's least accessible countries, it was difficult to know what to believe. Western diplomats in Rangoon pointed out that at least three dissident groups in the country have the means and the motive to launch such an attack in or der to embarrass U Ne Win, the powerful chairman of Burma's ruling party. In a wide-ranging purge only a few months ago, Ne Win sacked his intelligence chief for corruption. Some South Koreans be lieve Chun could also have been the target of dissidents from his own country.

The loss of the Cabinet ministers and other high-level officials was a major set back for Chun's government. They were among the best and the brightest in a regime that has shown considerable skill in its handling of foreign and economic affairs. Foreign Minister Lee Bum Suk, 58, had formulated Seoul's new policy to improve relations with developing countries. Deputy Prime Minister Suh Suic Joon, 45, was his country's chief economic planner and a trade specialist. Presidential Adviser Kim Jae Ik, 44, was considered, along with Joon, to be an architect of South Korea's move toward more liberal economic policies. Hahm Pyong Choon, 51, the President's Chief of Staff, had served ably as Ambassador to the U.S. from 1973 to 1977 and traveled widely as presidential envoy. Said a South Korean official: "The men we lost had years of experience and leadership qualities that cannot be easily replaced." On Friday, the remaining 18 members of the Cabinet resigned, enabling President Chun to form a new 22-member Cabinet.

To reassure South Korea, the U.S. ordered the aircraft carrier Carl Vinson, which was due to sail home last week, to remain near the South Korean coast. Al though Chun was expected to come under pressure from hard-liners in his government, U.S. officials hoped he would avoid any moves that could mar President Rea gan's visit to South Korea next month. Weinberger particularly urged Chun to avoid retaliatory moves that could only aggravate tensions along the border with North Korea.

With reporting by Edwin M. Reingold This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.