South Korea: Democracy of a Sort

When South Korea’s Strongman General Park Chung Hee seized power 19 months ago, he vowed to restore democratic civilian rule “when all revolutionary tasks have been accomplished.” Sure enough. Park eventually produced the draft of a new constitution; last week it won overwhelming approval in a national referendum.

No one seemed to notice—or care about —the details of Park’s constitutional document. Fact was, it would permit the soldiers of the military junta to exchange their khaki uniforms for mufti, and continue ruling as before. Contemptuous of the “parliamentary impotence” of civilian politicians. General Park reduced the National Assembly to the role of a powerless rubber stamp. Full powers were given to the popularly elected President. Leading candidate for that office, and almost certain winner in elections next March, is General Park himself.

Behind Park will be Colonel Kim Chong Pil, head of the powerful Central Intelligence Agency, the quiet Korean who is even more powerful than Park. Together, the two have gagged the newspapers, and got rid of thousands of political enemies by forbidding them to participate in public life. Yet of 40,000 political prisoners locked up in the first months of the military coup, a mere 700 remain in jail.

Moreover, the junta has provided a clean and efficient government. Official corruption and smuggling, which once accounted for 70% of the country’s retail trade, have been drastically curtailed. Exports have climbed 37% to a record $55 million, and bank receipts of compulsory savings on the salaries of all wage earners have given the government a substantial supply of working capital. Though one-quarter of the total labor force is unemployed, a new $2.5 billion five-year plan is expected to take up much of the slack.

Early morality crusades have been abandoned to spur the economy. The junta eased its ban on prostitution because it could not find enough jobs for the unemployed hustlers. Antigambling laws were rewritten so that the government could back the development of a new. $3.800.000 gambling, hotel and entertainment complex outside Seoul called Walker Hill (named after the late U.S. General Walton Walker, who led U.N. forces during the Korean war). Slated to be dedicated this week, Walker Hill is designed to entice U.S. soldiers to spend their leaves—and their dollars—in Korea rather than in nearby Japan.

Some of the puritanical zeal remains. Last week the junta outlawed holiday parties and the exchange of Christmas cards as “ill-suited to revolutionary aims.”