The Politics of Patriotism

In his eleven years as President of the Republic of Korea, grizzled old (83) Syngman Rhee has fought the North Koreans, the Chinese and the Russians. But as a pioneer in his country's struggle for independence, he has fought against the Japanese all his life. At the height of the Korean war, Rhee said that if Tokyo sent troops, "we would turn around and fight the Japanese before the Communists." Last week the old warrior was challenged to a showdown by the country he still reckons as among the first of Korea's enemies.

Men Without a Country. At issue was the fate of Japan's 800,000 "Korean residents.'' Taken to Japan in imperial times, mostly as forced labor, they remain an unabsorbed minority, and since World War II. a constant source of community friction. One in four is on relief, and 80% are classified as "without regular employment." Police assert that the incidence of crime--acts ranging from assault to theft--is five times as high among this group as among the rest of Japan's population. And owing in part at least to Rhee's insistence that the Koreans in Japan should stay in Japan, an estimated two-thirds of these expatriate Koreans are proCommunist.

Recently the pro-Communist League of Korean Residents in Japan announced that 117,000 of Japan's Koreans had signed a petition saying they wanted to go to Communist North Korea. Though Japanese police believe that only 43,000 actually signed their names (and most of these signatures were bought by the league at $15 apiece from Koreans who needed the cash), Japanese Foreign Minister Aiichiro Fujiyama seized upon the idea.

For years the U.S. has been trying to patch up Seoul's quarrels with Tokyo, so that the nations could set up diplomatic relations. Rhee was adamant. He refused to modify his seven-year-old ban on Japanese fishing boats within 60 miles of the Korean coast. He refused to take Japan's Koreans back into South Korea. Getting nowhere with Rhee, both Fujiyama and Premier Nobusuke Kishi reckoned that any move to get rid of Japan's "Korean residents'" would be popular with Japanese voters.

"Spirit of Democracy." Blandly, Foreign Minister Fujiyama last month announced that "on humanitarian grounds, all Koreans in Japan wishing to go to North Korea will be allowed to do so.'' The Red Cross would be invited to find out how many really wanted to go to North Korea, and to take charge of transporting them. "All we are doing." said Tokyo, "is acting in accordance with the true spirit of democracy."

Rhee was furious. He ordered his emissaries to break off negotiations with Tokyo. Crowds chanting "Down with Japanese Imperialism" shouldered through Seoul's streets. Opposition Democrats, dropping their fight against Rhee's harsh new police law, proclaimed their solidarity with the government against "Japan's unilateral and inhuman plan to send Koreans to Red slavery.''

The U.S. State Department expressed its concern lest "the situation degenerate to the point where hostilities will break out." And just as the situation seemed to be degenerating further, Syngman Rhee's government belatedly offered, after all, to "accept all Koreans in Japan--provided the Japanese government gives them suitable compensation."

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