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'état 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.