Korea: Symbol of the Herter Doctrine:
SANDERS, SOL
By Sol Sanders Korea: Symbol of the 'Herter Doctrine' American "intervention for democracy' proof of abandonment of bankrupt Asia policy TOKYO TWO VERY TIRED and very worn cliches have dogged...
...A young high school student, whom I met by chance and who spoke no English, knew that the Washington Star opposed the student movement and that the Washington Post was favorable...
...Since 1945 we have given the Korean Republic $3.3 billion in non-military aid...
...When I returned to Tokyo, I found that none of this change—or very little—had gotten through to my American and European friends...
...would not tolerate unarmed students being slaughtered in the streets...
...In the last few weeks, apparently willy-nilly and without the geopoli-ticians of Foggy Bottom, the Pentagon or the Harvard-MIT intellectual bank, these two axioms were thrown to the winds...
...And we have blinded ourselves for 15 years with a policy which refuses to recognize the direct influence of U.S...
...policy—even where there is no policy —in Asian countries' domestic affairs...
...American policy is heavy with the international responsibility of the whole free world...
...Ambassador Walter McConaughy at a press conference if it were true, as rumor had it, that the revolution was won half by the students and half by the U.S...
...was face to face with the possibility of a mass movement among the Korean people demanding liberal, democratic institutions which was being forced toward more radical solutions...
...Thus, dictatorial and semi-dictatorial regimes in the so-called "free world" of Asia are "inevitable...
...Immediately, the student revolt in Korea was compared with the Castro regime in Cuba, and a more far-fetched analogy would be hard to find...
...Embassy...
...There also ought to be a considerable amount of private investment if we use our influence with the Korean Government to create a proper climate for it, and that would help restore some semblance of independence to Korea's economy...
...American pressure — and I use that ugly word advisedly — should be brought to bear on Japan for settling the issues between the two countries so that both can profit from what could be a natural trade partnership...
...and we must live with them...
...We should accept that promise on face value and restore the 30 per cent cut in aid funds for this fiscal year...
...It cannot, must not, get bogged down in intervening in the domestic issues of any foreign power...
...policy in Asia...
...Embassy in Seoul, guilty over countenancing the fraudulent March 15 elections, and emboldened by the "Herter Doctrine" (intervention where American and free world principles are being flouted by an ally), rushed in where angels had feared to tread for 12 years...
...One student, when asked what he meant by constitutional reform, said he wanted a president in Korea similar "to the French Presidency under the Fourth Republic before de Gaulle's return to power" in order to thwart any new move to establish another strong-man regime...
...Despite President Eisenhower's denials, we did intervene, and dramatically, in Korea's internal affairs...
...A Korean newspaperman was nearly correct when he asked U.S...
...By Sol Sanders Korea: Symbol of the 'Herter Doctrine' American "intervention for democracy' proof of abandonment of bankrupt Asia policy TOKYO TWO VERY TIRED and very worn cliches have dogged American writers on U.S...
...After more than 400 years of exploitation by Chinese, Japanese and its own degenerative regimes...
...We found $15 million in additional funds for Taiwan this year for no specific purpose: surely the Koreans deserve as much...
...What has happened in the past weeks is clear proof that a new, defined American policy in Asia is called for...
...One goes something like this: Democracv is the outgrowth of Anglo-Saxon institutions which Asia does not have...
...When I asked a group of students—who were directing police activities after the police force dissolved under the student victory— what they would do later, they replied simply: "Of course, we will go back to school...
...we have spent untold sums on the Korean Army, the strongest anti-Communist military force in Asia...
...It must be flexible and intelligent and it must also demand that the American taxpayer get what he pays for: the creation of an atmosphere in which democracy can grow...
...Koreans know better than anyone in free Asia what Communism is...
...They pooh-poohed the theory that the popular uprising in Korea was a thing to be conjured with...
...We ought to consider reducing the size of the Korean Army, or putting it in a larger United Nations' framework...
...In Korea, we have a second chance: There should be no more cynical talk about what kind of government "Asians are fitted for...
...I watched one of them go down the drain in Korea, where a small group of brave, inspired and thoughtful Korean students decided that democracy could work in Asia...
...Washington adopted '"intervention" as a policy...
...Their sophistication was unbelievable...
...The fact is that a month after the major rioting (the word belies the relatively orderly student demonstrations which turned into a maelstrom only after the police opened fire) there is still no evidence that the Communists were able to exploit it in any fashion...
...And they pulled down what long had been considered by Washington experts to be a necessarily evil but '"strong" regime...
...The U.S...
...I found the leadership of the Korean students tough and practical, as well as idealistic and brave...
...Korea today is a society winning back its self-respect...
...The second cliche is a purely American version too...
...Korea will require considerable official American attention, but there must not be a return to that loftiest of rationalizations: non-intervention...
...Secretary of State Christian Herter told the Syngman Rhee regime in no uncertain terms that the U.S...
...and—it can never be forgotten —40,000 Americans lost their lives in Korea for democracy...
...The new regime has promised to eliminate corruption...
...As in the South African issue a few weeks earlier and the Cuban muddle in between, SOL SANDERS, head oj the Tokyo Bureau of Business Week magazine, is just back jrom a Korean tour...
...The U.S...
Vol. 43 • May 1960 • No. 21
