Proof at the Polls

SOUTH KOREA

Four years ago, South Korea's tough little retired army general Chung Hee Park scraped into the presidency with a bare 156,000-vote margin over former President (1960-62) and onetime Archaeologist Posun Yun, 69. Last week, Park showed just how far he and his country have come in those four years. In South Korea's most peaceful election in postwar years, more than 11 million out of 14 million eligible voters turned out to give Park and his reform-minded Democratic Republican Party a margin of more than 1,000,000 votes over Yun.

Park's victory was a defeat not only for Yun but for the old-style politicians and the brand of factionalism that they represented. It was a major display of maturing political organizations as South Korea moves from the traditional Oriental politics of the elite to popular party rule. "Now that the election is over," Park told Koreans in a brief victory statement, "it is time for all of us to lay aside our differences and work together to modernize our country."

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