Current Intelligence Weekly Summary
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CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
OFFICE OF CURRENT INTELLIGENCE
JNALS
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SOOTH KOREAN LEADEROKG-IIUI
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Pak Cbong-hul. chairman of Soothmilitary junta, will visit Washington in"j'< and hla associates are pledged to eliminatepolitical and economic abuses but are not prepared by training or experience to cope with tho country'seconomic difficulties. Pak Is described by the US Embassy as an able leader; be has yet to establish public support, however, and his position depends onalance among tbe factions in the Junta. He is strongly nationalist and reluctant to accept foreign advice, par-tlcularly on political and military matters.
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MUFFS
OUTH KOREAN RELATIONS
possible mld-Novorobri-meeting between Japan's Prime Minister Ikods snd South Korea's Junta leader Pak Chong-hui raises the prospectajor breakthrough In the long, efforts by the tao countries to normalize their relations. An Impromptu mission to Tokyo in late October by South Korean security chief Kimsk's principal lieutenant, apparently baa paved the amy for Pak to stop In Tokyo for discussions with Ikoda while en route to Washingtonisit.
Tbe main factor of South Korean interestuick settlement appears to be the need of Japanese assistance for the military government's economic programs. In addition to disagreement between Tokyo and Seoul about the amount of such assistance, however, there is tbe Important Orientalof "face" Involved in tho dispute over whether or not Japan is obligated toKorea for Japanese rule fromS until
Korean claims against Japan cover broad categories, both government and private, including demands fortor Korean savings accounts, the Bank of Korea gold reserves, national art treasures, ships, and corporateof whlcb tbe Japanese are accused of removing from Korea. The claims also include demands for compensation to Koreana subjected to forced labor by the Japanese and to families of Koreans killed and wounded In Japanese military service and labor battalions in World War II. While denying tbe legality of these claims, Tokyo apparently la willing to
consider grants up Seoul recently0egotiating figure.
It is doubtful, in any case, that Tokyo would extend more than token assistance In the absence of substantive progress on other problems about which Seoul seems less concerned. Tokyo is anxious for theor modification of the South Korean prohibition against Japanese fishing inside the Rheeencloses an area betweeniles off the Korean coast. South Korean patrol vessels have seized at least seven Japanese fishing boats In the vicinity of this line since the military coup d'etat onay.
Korean distrust of the Japanese remains deep, especially among the younger military officers on whom Pak Chong-hui depends for support. In Tokyo, too, there areettlement stemming from the divided opinion within the ruling party about Korean policy and from the possibility that the Socialists may exploit underlying Japanese disdain toward the Koreans to provoke opposition
It is doubtful that either government fully appreciates the other's politicalin this respect; the South Korean vice foreign
in late Set current efforts for afailed. South Korea would not make another attempt "for some years to come.
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Original document.
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