Doubtful Favor

In Seoul last week, South Korea's newly elected National Assembly at last chose a chief of state to replace deposed President Syngman Rhee. By a vote of 208 (out of 259) the Assembly named as President 62-year-old Posun Yun,* a British-educated (Edinburgh University) Presbyterian who, as onetime mayor of-Seoul, acquired something of a Herculean reputation by cleaning up the city's streets.

Under Korea's new constitution, Yun's job will be largely ceremonial, but it does give him the right to nominate the Premier, subject to confirmation by the Assembly's lower house. With more than 2,000,000 unemployed and an empty treasury, South Korea is in a bad way, and President Yun would be well advised, remarked one cynical Seoul politician last week, "to nominate his worst political enemy" for Premier.

*More familiarly known by the Korean version of his name, Yoon Bo Sun.

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