In South Korea last week close to 2,200 candidates for the new nation's 175-man National Assembly were busily campaigning. From Seoul, TIME Correspondent Frank Gibney cabled this report on the U.S.-supported republic as it prepared to hold its first independent general election:
Six months ago South Korea, bedeviled by guerrilla raids, galloping inflation and the daily threat of invasion from the north, looked like a candidate for the same mortuary as Nationalist China. Now the Republic of Korea looks more like a country on its way to healthy survival.
"My Head Has Improved." Progress has been uneven. The Korean Republic has taken its longest step toward recovery in the military field; in two years it has trained and equipped a first-rate ground army. Much of the credit goes to the U.S. Army's Korean Military Advisory Group, which set up an infantry school modeled on Fort Benning, carved out the elements of seven modern combat divisions.
The new Korean army's best officers were once Japanese majors or lieutenants, and they still maintain Oriental protocol. All ranks are salute-happy—even sergeants rate the stiff-handed Japanese salute—and one battalion commander nostalgically keeps his old samurai sword hanging above his desk. Says Major General Byong Duk Choe, the Korean army's 36-year-old chief of staff: "For the first year my head still worked Japanese style. Now it has improved. The difference between the Japanese army and ours is like the difference between the American M-1 rifle and the clumsy Japanese Type 99."
Today the hard-working Korean army has Americanized itself down to the recruiting of trimly uniformed Korean WACs. U.S. military advisers; headed by Brigadier General William L. Roberts, recall the failure of U.S.-trained armies in Nationalist China, and have tried to give the Koreans Yankee self-sufficiency as well as Yankee organization and equipment. The policy has paid off. Already Korean factories are turning out most pf the army's small arms ammunition.
The Advisory Group and ECA officials have also emphasized that a modern army needs sound ledgers as well as firepower. Korean commanders no longer receive lump sums of money for their troops, in the old warlord tradition. They are learning the most painful lesson of a democratic army—how to take a budget cut.
Most observers now rate the 100,000-man South Korean army as the best of its size in Asia. Its fast-moving columns have mopped up all but a few of the Communist guerrilla bands. And no one now believes that the Russian-trained North Korean army could pull off a quick, successful invasion of the South without heavy reinforcements. Said a Korean private manning a foxhole along the 38th parallel last week: "We expect war to come. But we aren't afraid. For every round they send over, we'll send two back."
Only lack of air power might tip the scales against the South. The Communists' North Korean air force has been estimated to have anywhere from 50 to 200 planes. The smaller figure is probably more nearly correct. The planes include Russian Yak fighters and light bombers. South Korea has only ten T-6 trainers and some Cub liaison planes; the U.S. has shown no interest in furnishing planes for the yo-odd South Korean pilots who are ready for fast fighter training.