SOUTH KOREA: OUTCOME STILL UNCERTAIN ON ELECTION EVE

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: FOIA Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 06799612
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: March 8, 2023
• Document Release Date: June 18, 2019
• Case Number: F-2019-00238
• Publication Date: December 15, 1987

Approved for Release: 2019/06/03 C06799612
(b)(3)
Director of
Central
Intelligence
National Intelligence Daily
luesday
15 December 1987
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CPAS N1D 87-290JX
TCS 2990/87
15 December 1987
Approved for Release: 2019/06/03 C06799612
Approved for Release: 2019/06/03 C06799612
Contents
South Korea: Outcome Still Uncertain on Election Eve 1
-roirSecr.e_t
TCS 2990/87
15 December 1987
(b)(3)
NR Record
(b)(3)
Approved for Release: 2019/06/03 C06799612
Approved for Release: 2019/06/03 C06799612
SOUTH KOREA: Outcome Still Uncertain on Election Eve
With no clear winner in sight and neither side willing to admit the
possibility of defeat, both the South Korean ruling party and the
opposition are warning there may be demonstrations and unrest
after the presidential election tomorrow.
The major candidates held raffles this weekend to demonstrate
popular support and sway the large undecided bloc�still as much as
20 percent of the electorate. On Saturday, according to the US
Embassy, the ruling party turned out a huge, mostly paid, crowd to
hear Roh Tae Woo propose a second package of political reforms.
The Embassy reports the move probably has won Roh votes from
diffident conservatives and trimmed the lead many political observers
had given to Kim Young Sam last week.
Both Kim Young Sam and Kim Dae Jung remain convinced they can
win the election, and neither is responding to pressure for a last-
minute compromise on a single candidate. If Roh wins, the Embassy
reports, the Kims are counting on widespread protests after the
election to unseat him and offer them a second chance at power.
During a conversation with US officials last week, Kim Dae Jung's
supporters continued to lay the groundwork to cry fraud, raising the
issue of government manipulation of absentee ballots and predicting
widespread cheating tomorrow.
Reports of government manipulation of the military vote have
surfaced to blemish the final days of Roh's campaign. Dissident
groups claim a soldier was beaten to death for refusing to vote for
Roh; the government says the man was fatally iniured during a scuffle
with a superior, that
absentee voting was halted at South Korean Air Force headquarters
when the military's security service discovered Roh was trailing in the
tally.
Seoul has placed the military and police on highest alert s
prevent violence at the polls and in the election aftermath.
Comment: Unrest is virtually certain if Roh wins; radicals will mount
street demonstrations, and the opposition is prepared to cry foul.
Whether such protests will build into the kind of demonstrations that
swept South Korea in June will depend on the general public's view of
a Roh victory.
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ToTh."Thcret�_
TCS 2990/87
15 December 1987
Approved for Release: 2019/06/03 C06799612