riddle@ut-sally.UUCP (Prentiss Riddle) (11/06/83)
References: <2599@utcsrgv.UUCP> <558@ihuxw.UUCP> ~ >> Regarding the question of American actions covert or otherwise >> have ever resulted in something other than a repressive dictatorship, >> I believe South Korea may be an example to the contrary. US and UN >> intervention via the Korean War appear to have preserved a >> democratic government there. I am not an expert on internal South >> Korean politics, however AND make no claim to be. It just happens >> to come to mind since I know the South Koreans are generally >> strongly anti-communist. Anyone else have better data? >> >> Mark Kohls >> ihuxw!thor True, South Korea is strongly anti-communist, but I am also under the impression that it is a repressive regime -- maybe not as repressive as some East Asian nations, but certainly far short of the democratic ideals of Japan, North America or Western Europe. Recent years in South Korea have seen coups, political assassinations and (if I'm not mistaken) the imposition of martial law. Political opposition and student protest have been violently put down. There is little free expression in South Korea. (A bit of anecdotal evidence for the latter point: I once did some travelling in Mexico with a Korean friend who was studying at the time in Michigan. At the end of our trip she was going to fly straight home to Seoul for a visit. Among the souvenirs of the Mexican trip were a number of novels and books on archeology in Spanish. She had to mail them to her address in Michigan rather than take them with her because trying to enter South Korea with "suspicious" printed materials, i.e. anything written in a Western language not understood by customs officials, would result, at least, in confiscation of the books and hours of detainment and questioning.) You could make a case, in fact, that South Korea is so repressive at least in part b e c a u s e it is so rabidly anti-communist. There is no nation I know of which has more of a cold war mentality than South Korea, the main protagonists of the cold war included. That's one of the big problems with waging a cold war: in your blind opposition to your enemy, you imitate his worst features. I might mention that our approach to solving the Korean conflict resulted in one more ongoing problem: like Germany, Palestine, India and (up until a few years ago) Viet Nam, Korea is a divided nation. Carving up nations into opposing camps seems a pretty good way of insuring civil suffering and a political state of siege for at least a generation to come. ---- Prentiss Riddle {ihnp4,seismo,ctvax}!ut-sally!riddle riddle@ut-sally.UUCP