SOUTH KOREA

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: FOIA Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005641946
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: June 24, 2015
• Document Release Date: March 29, 2011
• Case Number: F-2010-00766
• Publication Date: May 23, 1961

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23 May 1961
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 South Korea: Louth Korea's revolutionary government is
still consolidating its power and neutralizing elements which
might oppose it. Colonel Kim Chong-pil,who is reported to
be the principal adviser of the coup strongman, Major Gener-
al Pak Chong-hui, told an American official on 22 May that
everyone involved in the new regime has been too busy with
internal affairs to pay much attention to relationships with the
United States. He asserted that the United States should not
be concerned, since the revolutionary leadership was anti-
Communist and pro-US. The officer said that this was true
despite the resentment engendered by statements of American
officials in Seoul on 16 May, which had urged support of the
former Chang Myon government
/he adviser to Pak admitted that military command prin-
ciples in relation to the UN Command had been violated, but
said that the intent was to make the relationship between South
Korean military forces and the UN Command as close as in
the past. He said the leadership feels that Army Chief of
Staff Lieutenant General Chang To-yong has too many duties
in the present arrangement--he is chairman of the Supreme
Council for National Reconstruction, head of the cabinet, and
minister of defense--and that a new chief of staff should be ap-
pointe
Interservice rivalries and tension between the senior and
the more numerous junior officers of the revolutionary leader-
ship are continuing. The marines and paratroops in Seoul are
reported to have refused on 21 Ma to obe an order by Chang
To-gong to return to their camps.
(Backup, Page 3)
23 May 61
 Apprehension appears to be growing among civilians who
originally supported the coup or were apathetic to the overthrow
of the Chang Myon government over the adoption of increasingly
repressive tactics by the revolutionary leaders.
some 3,000 persons have been arrested,
but it is unclear how many are hoodlums and criminals and how
many are political offenders. Most newspapers have been forced
to adopt a position of complete endorsement of the new regime
and give a distorted picture of American reaction implying that
Washington supports the revolution.
Meanwhile, new Foreign Minister Kim Hong-il appears
to be attempting to allay American concern regarding the
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23 May 61 CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN Page 3
 revolutionary government. At his first press conference
Kim gave assurances that the new government's foreign policy
.will not differ basically from that of the Chang Myon adminis-
tration. He added that negotiations would be continued for the
normalization of South Korean - Japanese relations and that the
new regime opposed the "march North" unification policy of
the old Rhee government. Kim is a former South Korean am-
bassador to Nationalist China and a retired lieutenant general.
He is believed to be strongly anti-Communist and to favor an
authoritarian government similar to that of Chiang Kai-shek
on Taiwan.
Peiping's People's Daily, in an editorial of 21 May, claims
the US "stage-managed the coup" and labels the coup leaders
"fascist." Pyongyang has broadcast reports of atrocities al-
legedly perpetrated by US personnel and has depicted the
coup as a US-sponsored effort to "force more unbearable
calamities on the South Korean people."
23 May 61 CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN Page 4