Word: seoul
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...Airstrips. Are Park's fears real or designed to solidify his increasingly autocratic 14-year rule? "Oh, I think he is 70% genuine and 30% cynical," says a senior U.S. official in Seoul. The fact is that Kim has never accepted the existence of an independent, non-Communist South. In the past couple of years, he has not only launched repeated terrorist attacks across the border, but has also built a series of airstrips and naval ports close to the truce line. Recently he shifted two fully armored divisions to positions close to the DMZ. "There has been...
...American use of force boosted South Korean faith in the U.S. as an ally. Said Kay Kwang Gil, a Seoul expert on international relations: "If this sort of piracy act had gone unpunished, few of the American allies on this side of the Pacific could have found it easy to maintain confidence in the U.S." The Japanese, who depend heavily on oil tankers and freighters that use the seas off the Cambodian coast, called the U.S. action justified. Australians generally regarded the U.S. action as inevitable and believed that the Mayaguez had to be recaptured if U.S. influence...
Mutual Defense. Washington feels that Seoul's anxiety is at least slightly exaggerated; many experts expect Peking or Moscow (or both) to restrain Kim (TIME, May 12). Seoul, however, still has cause for concern. Communist victories in Indochina may so embolden North Korea that it will once again send its forces across the 38th parallel, perhaps gambling that South Korean President Park Chung Hee's repressive regime (TIME, April 28) has alienated the populace. Kim may also feel that the U.S., which has a mutual defense treaty with South Korea (backed by the presence of nearly...
...though the U.S. still maintains 40,000 troops and keeps tactical nuclear weapons in the country for defense against a possible invasion, there is concern over the strength of the American commitment. Moreover, since 1971 the U.S. has given only $792 million of a promised $1.5 billion for modernizing Seoul's armed forces...
...military threat from the North is a subterfuge for ensuring the longevity of his regime." Kim Young Sam's judgment could land him a seven-year prison sentence under a law that forbids "slanderous or libelous remarks against the state" to foreign media. Yet many members of the Seoul establishment privately agree with...