South Korea Comes of Age

Primi Minister Shinyong Lho is a soft-spoken, reflective man. Talking to a group of American columnists and editorial-page editors, he is eager to affirm the solidity of U.S.- Korean relations, “They are so good!” he says with a warm and open smile. It is important to him, as it has been to every high-ranking Korean official who has spoken to us, to make this point. Korea’s future would be murky indeed without a strong American commitment not only to the defense of Korea, but to free trade, without which the growing Korean economy would be humbled.

Move up to the demilitarized zone, a strip of land separating the Communist North from the Republic of Korea. The DMZ is some thirty miles away from Seoul, a little farther than from Washington, D.C., to Dulles Airport. General William J. Livsey— Commander-in-Chief ROK/U.S. Combined Forces, Commander U.S. Forces/ Korea, Commander-in-Chief United Nations Command—is only peripherally interested in trade and the economy. His mission is to contain the North Korean Communists and to prevent another invasion of South Korea. Livsey is a tough and wiry soldier who shows up wearing combat fatigues. He is proud of the forty thousand U.S. and six hundred thousand Korean troops he leads, and he makes us feel proud of them, too.

RT

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Ralph de Toledano

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Primi Minister Shinyong Lho is a soft-spoken, reflective man. Talking to a group of American columnists and editorial-page editors, he is eager to affirm the solidity of U.S.- Korean relations, “They are so good!” he says with a warm and open smile. It is important to him, as it has been to every high-ranking Korean official who has spoken to us, to make this point. Korea’s future would be murky indeed without a strong American commitment not only to the defense of Korea, but to free trade, without which the growing Korean economy would be humbled.

Move up to the demilitarized zone, a strip of land separating the Communist North from the Republic of Korea. The DMZ is some thirty miles away from Seoul, a little farther than from Washington, D.C., to Dulles Airport. General William J. Livsey— Commander-in-Chief ROK/U.S. Combined Forces, Commander U.S. Forces/ Korea, Commander-in-Chief United Nations Command—is only peripherally interested in trade and the economy. His mission is to contain the North Korean Communists and to prevent another invasion of South Korea. Livsey is a tough and wiry soldier who shows up wearing combat fatigues. He is proud of the forty thousand U.S. and six hundred thousand Korean troops he leads, and he makes us feel proud of them, too.