Flashbacks

VIPs take no chances

By any standard, the security was extraordinary. As U.S. Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger and South Korean President Chun Doo Hwan watched a joint demonstration of South Korean and U.S. military power near Seoul a fortnight ago, they were protected by a shield of thick bulletproof glass and surrounded by heavily armed presidential bodyguards. VIP spectators at the military display had been carefully screened before being invited, and were required to pass through metal detectors set up on a slope near the target area. News cameramen were kept 328 ft. from the presidential bunker and warned not to point their cameras at the President "or the guards might open fire on you."

Unseen by the audience, half a dozen plainclothesmen, some armed with light antitank weapons, stood between the President and a column of tanks. South Korea's President had not forgotten that Egyptian President Anwar Sadat was killed last October during a military parade. "Since Sadat," said one U.S. observer, "these military exercises make some folks nervous."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.