South Korea 1976: The Continuing Uncertainties

Abstract

THE OPERATIONAL MILIEU Of the Republic of Korea (ROK) continued to be dominated by the Big Four, namely, the United States, the Soviet Union, the People's Republic of China, and Japan. In three of these regional and world powers there were leadership transfers or transformations with real or imagined impact on South Korea. The Jimmy Carter phenomenon became a veritable Carter shock for the ROK government, largely because of his stance on the problems of human rights in Korea and on the proposed withdrawal of U.S. nuclear weapons as well as phased military disengagement from South Korea. The legacies of Chou En-lai and Mao Tse-tung regarding Kim Ii Sung's policy of One Korea Soon' remained uncertain. If some elements of South Korean elites were turning toward conservative forces in Japan as a more reliable ally than the United States, the outcome of the recent Japanese elections gave the new Japanophiles little comfort. The Soviet Union apparently remained the main source of modern military equipment for North Korea, and the Soviet naval forces near Korean waters were becoming increasingly visible.2 Thus the psychological milieu of South Korea in 1976, a year after the decisive Communist victories in Indochina where ROK troops participated in the war, was characterized by chronic and almost neurotic anxiety.