Eleventh-Hour Reprieve

At 10:30 one morning last week, 77-year-old Syngman Rhee called his cabinet together and prepared to spring the trap on representative government in South Korea. He told his ministers he planned to dissolve the Assembly, which opposes him, amend the constitution, and seek his re-election by direct vote of the people, whom he manipulates through a lough police force and a controlled press. Rhee's chief crony, Lee Bum Suk, the Home Minister, supported the move. The end of Korea's infant parliament was set for noon.'

With only an hour to spare, U. S. Charge d'Afaires Allan Lightner strode in to hand

Rhee a note from Harry Truman. What the U.S. President told his Korean ally was not made public, but it was enough to deter Rhee.

In Sanctuary. But Rhee had other schemes. He ordered his 52 followers in the 183-member Assembly to boycott sessions to prevent a quorum. His police grabbed eleven anti-Rhee Assemblymen, locked them up in a dilapidated house in a Pusan slum, and tried, unsuccessfully, to get 15 more anti-Rhee parliamentarians to come in for "questioning." Scared opposition Assemblymen huddled in the sanctuary of their barnlike meeting hall, sleeping on bedrolls and benches.

In a Pusan courtroom, nine of Rhee's army officers put Assemblyman Suh Min Ho on trial, accused him of murdering a South Korean army captain. Suh's lawyer told the court-martial that his client had shot in self-defense and had been acquitted by the Assembly. Suh is not very popular with South Korean army brass since he brought to light a half-million-dollar embezzlement scandal in Rhee's army.

In Hospital. Rhee's highhanded ways stirred up protests all over. Australia, Britain and France, all of whom have troops fighting in Korea, sent stiff notes. U.S. Ambassador John Muccio, hurrying back from an interrupted U.S. vacation, spent almost two hours telling Rhee in fuller detail what was on Harry Truman's mind. U.N. Secretary General Trygve Lie sent a note pleading for "strict adherence to constitutional and democratic processes." Rhee's followers became a little nervous over a hush-hush "patient" in a U.S. Army hospital, just 400 yards from the Korean Assembly hall. There, under U.S. protection, lives John Myun Chang, recently Premier of Korea and onetime Korean representative to the U.N. Chang, U.S.-educated (M.A. from New York's Manhattan College, 1926), is sometimes spoken of as a successor to Rhee. Ostensibly he is being treated for an old case of jaundice.

This week, beset on all sides, tough old Syngman Rhee proposed a deal. He said he would let the Assembly elect the next President by June 23 (as provided in the constitution) if the Assembly agreed to permit the popular election of future Presidents. On the surface, this offer looked good, but the suspicious Assembly--with eleven of its members still under Rhee's arrest--wanted to take a hard look at the fine print.

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