Revolt at the Polls

After announcing that he would not seek a third term as President, South Korea's aging Strongman Syngman Rhee was at last persuaded to run "only by the clamor of the Korean people." He was confident of his popularity and of the efficiency of his machine. Chipper and jaunty at 81, he spent the final days of the campaign attending the movies and pointing out dirty spots on the new floors of his pet project, Seoul's plush $5,000,000 Bando Hotel.

There was little reason to believe that Rhee would not repeat, or even better, his sweep of previous years. His chief rival, Democratic Party Candidate Patrick Henry Shinicky (Shin Ikhi), had died while campaigning (TIME, May 14). His only other challenger, ex-Communist Cho Bong Am, had gone into hiding, claiming to have received threats of assassination. Of six candidates for the vice presidency, all had professed support of Rhee except John M. Chang, Shinicky's running mate. Rhee had confidently given his official backing to Lee Ki Poong, speaker of the National Assembly.

Bamboo Sticks. True, Rhee's opponents were more vociferous than ever before, and there were anti-Rhee riots in the cities. But that hardly seemed enough to upset Rhee's well-organized political machine. Anti-Rhee campaigners were harassed by strong-arm squads of government backers. And in towns and villages throughout South Korea, the republic's 48,000 police openly stumped for Rhee and Lee. What possibly could happen to dim Syngman Rhee's inevitable victory?

On election day, 94% of the more than 9,000,000 eligible voters trooped to South Korea's 6,342 polling places to mark their ballots with inked bamboo sticks and drop them into large boxes resembling footlockers. The ballots had been printed before Shinicky's death, and still bore his name. There were few incidents and no certified cases of interference with the voters. By nightfall, the huge unpainted boxes began to give up their secret. It proved to be a bitter one for Syngman Rhee. In a revolt that spread through cities and villages alike, the people of South Korea had dealt Rhee and his government a stunning blow.

Rhee, of course, was reelected, but by the lowest margin of his career--barely more than half the vote. The late P. H. Shinicky polled an extraordinary ghost vote of nearly 1,500,000. But the real surprise of the ballot box was the defeat of Rhee's hand-picked vice presidential candidate by Rhee's bitter foe, husky, affable, 56-year-old Chang Myun, who anglicizes his name as John M. Chang. A onetime friend of Rhee's and former Korean Ambassador to Washington, U.S.-educated (Manhattan College) Chang thus became eligible to succeed Rhee in the event of his death. While the government and the Democratic Party squabbled over disputed votes, Chang prudently went into "protective" seclusion. Counting of ballots stopped abruptly in Taegu, and Rhee's opponents charged that he was trying to steal the election.

Defeat Accepted. Rhee's setback reflected South Korea's progressive dissatisfaction with inflation, government saba-saba (influence peddling), incompetent administration, police brutality and grinding poverty. Shocked and angered, Syngman Rhee at first kept silent about the results. Then at week's end, weary but resigned, he spoke: "I think Chang Myun has been elected," he said, and tension perceptibly eased.

Said Vice President-elect Chang: "A very wise move on his part, very timely. I think we'll get along all right. He's a very strong antiCommunist, and so am I. He's a Christian, and so am I."

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