Suchergebnisse

With the possible exception of Chile no other country in 1976 received as much critical American public and press attention as did Korea. Almost to the exclusion of other issues, the criticism has been directed to the denial of human rights. Press stories, editorials, letters to the editor, Congressional hearings and legislative restrictions, TV documentaries, church newsletters—all have deplored the erosion of civil liberties in South Korea. And as the criticisms mounted, more and more voices, including those from among the ranks of Korea's traditional friends, began calling for a reduction of United States military and economic support to this country, the rebirth of whose independence was gained, at a tremendous cost in American blood and treasure.

Korean intelligence agents operating in the United States have violated our laws with impunity. Such reprehensible actions merit serious scrutiny at any time. But in view of recent developments in Korea, it is even more urgent that our government be concerned about the intelligence activities of the South Korean Government in the United States.The hearings held earlier this year before the appropriate subcommittee of the House are important for at least two reasons. First, they sought, at long last, to inquire publicly into serious allegations of illegal activity carried on in our country by agents or persons representing a foreign power. The fact that Korea has been a close ally of the United States is not in dispute; what is of concern is whether representatives of that government have violated American law and have attempted to deny the human rights of Koreans resident in this country.

With the end of the U.S. involvement in Vietnam and Indochina attention has turned to the Korean Peninsula. For the past two decades an uneasy peace has been maintained between two Korean governments—the one Communist, totalitarian, and revolutionary; the other non-Communist, yet authoritarian, undemocratic, and indeed almost as totalitarian in its lack of regard for opposition political voices and the rights of the individual. Probably nowhere else is American power and influence so greatly exposed as on the Korean Peninsula—with all the attendant risks for involving the U.S. in a land war on the Asian mainland.Any sensible discussion of alternatives to U.S. policy in Korea should begin with consideration of the commitment of the U.S. to the defense of Korea, as embodied in the treaty between the U.S. and Korea that entered into force in November, 1954.