05/25/1961 -- SOUTH KOREA -- CURRENT INTELLIGENCE WEEKLY SUMMARY

Created: 11/29/2000

OCR scan of the original document, errors are possible

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CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY OFFICE OF CURRENT^

SECRET

NOT RELEASABLE TO FOREIGN NATIONALS^ Ml,.*

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CURRENT INTELLIGENCE WEEKLY SUMMARY

SOUTH KOREA

Supremo Council lor National Reconstruction, the military group which ham control of the government lo South Korea, Is continuing to consolidate its position and to neutralizesources of opposition. However, there are indications that coup strongmanen. Pak Choag-hui is becomingdispleased with Army Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Chang fo-yong, nho is believed toelatively early return to civilian government. Should Chang be forced out of the ruling iunta, the regime would probably be strongly Influenced by Junior officers who desire an abrupt break with the past and anperiod of military rule.

The retention of President Yun Po-aun as chief of state has given the insurgenta semblance of cunstltu-tionallty. Government ministries

nave been reopenedew

all-military cabinet appointed.

However, administrative and technical talent is scarce, and

most of those who qualify fur important positions are tainted

by association with either tbe

Chang kfyon or Rhoe admlnlatra-

tlons.

Tho shortage of capable senior personnel is particularly apparent lo the economic field. The regime has taken stopgap measurea toerious dislocation of tho economy, but there are indications ofstagnation. Beak of Korea officials report that mounting administrative confusion iseconomic activity.

Apprehension is developing among educated civilians over

The new government isto Improve living Unless lt can fulfill Its economic promises, itwill experience the same public antipathy as the Chang adniiiKt ration.

the repressive tactics of the military rulers. Political parties and organizations have been ordered abolished, and moat members of the formerhave been placed under houHi- arrest or imprisoned. ationwide roundup of alland suspected Communists is under way. According to local press reports,ersons, many of then probably hoodlums and criminals, have been seized. Strict presa and radiohas been imposed, snd many pontons are reportedly listening to Communist broadcasts from

Pyongyang for news of events in South Korea.

Asian Communists, whose cautious Initial reaction to the coupack ofinformation, have now taken the measure of Seoul's newand hostile propaganda has mounted steadily during the past week, Peiping's People's Dally charged in an editorial ofay that the US stage-managed the coup to maintain itsrule."

Speakingallyn Pyongyang onay. North Korean ViceI called on theTrJwl7lll

population to smash the coup.

Pyongyang earlier had urged all South Korean military personnel to resist tbe coup leaders. The North Koreans have used thesituation to renew their call for reunification, claiming that only by Joining with the "self-Sufficient" economy of tho North can South Korea solve its economic problems.

While there is no evidence of North Korean militaryto take advantage of the unsottled situation, diasenslon

within the coup group could make South Korea increasingly

susceptible to Communist proi

ganda and subversion,

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