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In Washington's view, the U.S. relationship with South Korea, where the U.S. still bases 39,000 troops, is too vital to let the Kim incident affect it. Four years ago, the U.S. obtained assurances that Kim, who was almost elected President in 1971, would be spared from a sentence of execution for sedition and would be permitted to leave South Korea if he wished to do so. This year the U.S. again intervened in Kim's behalf to ensure that he would not be sent to prison when he went home. Partly because of these concessions on Seoul's part, U.S. officials are reluctant to describe the Chun regime as a dictatorship; they also point out that South Koreans enjoy freedom of religion, freedom of movement and the freedom to change jobs. Though 14 leading opposition figures, among them the two Kims, are still banned from political activity, Chun has released 1,000 of an estimated 1,200 or 1,300 political prisoners. Says a State Department official: "It's not a democracy, but there are democratic processes." U.S. officials believe these processes will be reinforced as South Korea looks ahead toward Chun's planned visit to the U.S. in April and toward the Olympic Games in Seoul in 1988.