Observations on South Korea (PJW)

"Observations on South Korea" is an excerpt from former Secretary of State James William Fulbright's novel The Mad Man of Korea: The Decade of Tears, published posthumously in 1997.

Observations
It was difficult to serve as Secretary of State under President Byrd. Now I'm not saying it was difficult due to Byrd - I still am a major support of him, and his foreign policies - I'm saying it was difficult due to the usual expectations of the American people. Wayne, the fool, had them whipped up in a frenzy, ready to fight and die in senseless wars across the world. Troops had been sent to Cuba, advisers to West Germany - if Wayne had his way, thousands of young men would have lost their lives fighting in the jungles of Vietnam for over a decade.

When Byrd asked me to serve as Secretary of State, his intentions were clear: non-interventionist. Allow other nations to solve their problems by themselves for once. And if these countries found themselves turning communist - then let them for the time being. We had enough problems on the home front. This idea worked for the most part. When revolutionaries are trying to bring down your home country, why send your troops across oceans to defend other nations.

Unfortunately, sometimes when other countries are left to their own devices, things go wrong.

This is most apparent in the case of South Korea. Wayne had propped up a dictator, but Syngman Rhee had lost his support and a military committee took charge of the nation in 1961. General Park Chung-hee emerged as the leader of this committee, and nominally had the United States support - as in I phoned the general one night and told him the United States would not oppose the coup. Beyond that, though - the General was on his own. This made many in Seoul anxious, especially as American troops were being withdrawn in Vietnam and the Pacific, and the communists to the north saw opportunity. Communist insurgents support by North Vietnam increased operations, and Seoul soon feared North Korean tanks would be rolling across the border.

This fear drove many to the extremist side of the committee. A far right general, Lee Chu-il, began his own firebrand speeches, proclaiming he was going to make South Korea entirely "self-reliant" and "industrialized" without any need from the increasingly isolationist United States. For too long, he claimed, Korea had been subservient to foreign powers such as China, Japan, and the United States. Not anymore, under his rule, he proclaimed. And he rallied supporters.

With a vote to see if a referendum would be held to see if South Korea would return to democracy, Lee Chu-il moved fast. With his coalition of supporters, he ousted Park Chung-hee from leadership. Proclaiming himself the new leader of South Korea, he cancelled the referendum, stating that South Korea's enemies would strike during a time when South Korea was transferring power. He granted himself dictatorial emergency powers, and began making arrests - starting with those on the military council who refused to ally with him.

And thus, South Korea began to travel down its dark path.