Word: seoul
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...Bush Administration agrees that some American forces should stay. But Washington wants South Korea to assume more responsibility for its own defense. Current plans call for a ten-year, three-phase troop reduction, beginning with the withdrawal of 7,000 U.S. soldiers by 1994. In addition, Seoul has been asked to double its direct financial support to $680 million this year...
...from the north. It is still a crime to give any support to North Korea, even to write or paint about it. Suspected subversives are routinely beaten, and the government keeps politicians under surveillance. While these remnants of the authoritarian past have severely tested U.S. support, Washington now believes Seoul is on the right track...
Only 120 miles north of Seoul lies another world. There, from a drab, cheerless capital, the self-proclaimed "Great Leader" Kim Il Sung presides over an Orwellian state where the radios have dials that cannot be tuned and loudspeakers broadcast propaganda 20 hours a day into every home. Such totalitarianism is fast becoming extinct everywhere else in the world, but Kim not only survives, he is virtually worshiped by his people...
Most observers expect young Kim's rule to be short lived. "As soon as his father dies, Kim will be overthrown by the military," predicts Kwon Moon Sool, director of the Research Institute on National Security Affairs in Seoul. In an attempt to guard against a coup, Kim has installed trusted allies in the Defense Ministry and the army. But if his father's death provokes unrest, the military could well take over: there are no known democratic alternatives or any organized opposition groups...
...ideas do seep in. Some privileged academics, artists and athletes have traveled abroad and been exposed to the freedom of the outside world. Many foreign analysts believe the pressure for change will eventually be overwhelming -- but only after Kim Il Sung is gone. Says Professor Kim Kook Chin, of Seoul's Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security: "They have to open up their system to develop their economy. But if they do open the door, it will undermine their system. The more they open up, the more vulnerable they will...