Dam, Double Dam

In the endless propaganda wars between North and South Korea, each side is constantly conjuring up new security threats, real and imagined. The South Koreans say the Communist North's latest weapon is water--tons and tons of it. The dispute involves the Kumgangsan Dam, now being built on the North Han River near the Demilitarized Zone. The facility will produce 800,000 kW of electricity and create a reservoir holding 20 billion gal. of water. South Korea charges that if the dam should ever collapse or be demolished by the North, the resulting flood would be a disaster. Thundering down the Han River valley, the water would quickly reach Seoul, 80 miles to the southwest, threatening the lives and property of millions.

After groundbreaking ceremonies for Kumgangsan Dam were held in late October, South Korean Defense Minister Lee Ki Baek ominously threatened "self-defensive measures." The actual South Korean response was less menacing: a "counterdam" that would be built 12.5 miles south of the North Korean one. Dubbed the Peace Dam, the $690 million wall of steel and cement would be the same size as its northern counterpart and thus would be able to stop any flood from across the DMZ. Its only purpose would be to sit, mutely vigilant, waiting for the Kumgangsan Dam to collapse.

The South Koreans would, of course, rather not build such a white elephant. Last week they appealed to the North to sit down this week at Panmunjom "to earnestly discuss utilization of the resources of rivers." For Koreans the tactical use of water has historical as well as practical aspects. In the 7th century, General Ulchi Mundok defeated an invasion of 300,000 Chinese by retreating to the flooding Chongchon River near Pyongyang; the waters helped him virtually to annihilate the Chinese force.