MONTHLY REPORT - SEOUL BUREAU - DECEMBER 1985

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP86-00040R000300610001-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 8, 2010
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: January 7, 1986
• Content Type: MEMO

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EMBASSY OF THE
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
FOREIGN BROADCAST INFORMATION SERVICE
SEOUL BUREAU
FBIS
MSK-6801
7 January 1986
MEMORANDUM FORT Director, FBIS
THROUGH i Acting Chief, Operations Group
SUBJECT i Monthly Report - Seoul Bureau - December 1985
1. Fifteen of the Bureau's local employees and three staffers -- the
Bureau Chief, Senior Editor and editor -- participated
on 7 December in a VIP tour and briefings at the Joint Security Area at
Panmunjom and one of the tunnels dug by the DPRK under the DMZ. The tour was
arranged by one of the Bureau's contacts at the UN Command Military Armistice
Commission, in appreciation for the service the Bureau provides UNCMAC.
Korean citizens normally are not allowed to visit the DMZ, so the occasion
provided a rare opportunity for local employees to see the area.
Participants in the tour were able to visit the conference room where MAC
meetings are held -- and stare at stone-faced North Korean Army guards who
were watching the visitors through a window only five or six feet away.
Lungs and legs were tested rigorously at the tunnel, which can only be
entered by descending (and later ascending) a steep and sometimes slippery
access tunnel that drops some 258 vertical feet in about 288 yards. This
visit is a good example of the close relationship that has developed between
the Bureau and UNCMAC over the years. The tour was laid on with a single
phone call and minimal follow-upi Embassy locals have never been afforded a
similar opportunity because Embassy officers would have to go through an
intimidating labyrinth of bureaucratic channels before getting approval for
local employees to enter the DMZ. UNCMAC's willingness to lay on such a tour
for FBIS is a testimony to the continuing service it receives from the
Bureau.
2. The DODDS high school, Seoul American, which is attended by most
children of military and Embassy parents in the Seoul area, has received the
Department of Education "Excellence in Education" award for 1985. Seoul
American is the first DODDS school in the Pacific to receive this prestigious
award. The award program, now in its third year, honors selected schools
with national recognition for outstanding academic achievements. SAHS is one
of 212 schools to receive the award for 1965, only three of which were DODDS
schools. Overall test scores at the school were 34 points above the national
average on the verbal section of the 1985 Scholastic Aptitude Test, and 22
points above the national average on the mathematics section of the SAT.
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STAT
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3. Seoul is now in the grip of the coldest weather in the past 15
years. On 3 January the city was blanketed with about four inches of snow,
followed by a cold wave that has brought temperatures at night down to a few
degrees below zero. The low temperatures and accompanying north winds have
brought a wind chill factor of -25 degrees. Icy roads throughout the country
have caused many accidents and monumental traffic jams, and Kimpo Airport was
closed for 18 hours on the 3d and 4th after a Saudi airliner slid off the
snow-covered main runway and became stuck in freezing mud. The current cold
snap is expected to last for several more days at least, and the Korean
weather service is predicting one of the coldest winters since the Korean
War.
II. OPERATIONS
Editorial/Monitorial
1. In statements since 1 January by the heads of the DPRK delegations
to the Red Cross, economic and parliamentary talks, and at the 3 January MAC
meeting in Panmunjom, Pyongyang has laid the groundwork for a propaganda
campaign against this year's "Team Spirit' military erercises. The
delegation leaders and DPRK MAC senior delegate all have pointed to the
incompatibility of continued North-South talks and military exercises. This
year's "Team Spirit" is slated to be held as usual from February through
April, though dates have not yet been formally announced. Last year
Pyongyang canceled all talks for months due to the exercise. The DPRK in
mid-January began a propaganda blitz denouncing the exercise, including
almost daily editorials and commentaries. We expect a similar outpouring of
protest this year.
2. In early December the Bureau began using a "black box" device to
facilitate preparation of KCNA logs. Adapted from Okinawa Bureau's automatic
logging system for XINHUA English transmissions, the device prints out the
KCNA item numbers, headlines, and the first paragraph of each item. A
reperforator cuts a tape of all entries; to complete the log all the editors
have to add is the length and disposition of items. The device works very
well when reception is good, but KCNA reception varies widely. The logs
still must be prepared manually when reception is poor.
III. ADMINISTRATION
Personnel
1. After meetings in November of the Bureau's Evaluation and
Promotions Subpanels, a combination s arty and award ceremony was
held on the 19th onitor Technician
and Communicator received promo ionsl and orean n
hinese on or and Communicator
received quality step increases in recognition of superior performance.
2. Korean monitor has been on extended sick leave since
13 December. 0 was hospitalized with a thyroid condition for over two
weeks, and is now recuperating at home. He hopes to return to work, on at
least a part-time basis, on 13 January.
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Lieutenant Commander Caroline Lane, UN Command Military Armistice
Commission liaison officer, visited the Bureau on 3B December for a briefing
and tour of the facilities. LCDR Lane was in Seoul during the late 1978's on
a previous assignment, during which she says she was an "avid reader" of the
Bureau file. In her present assignment she will occasionally be filling in
for UNCMAC Special Adviser Jimmy Lee, the Bureau's primary contact at UNCMAC.
STAT
Attachment
Monthly Production Report
cci Chief, Okinawa Bureau
Chief, Hong Kong Bureau
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