The Press THURSDAY, JANUARY 25, 1968. North Koreans’ Capture

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31586, 25 January 1968, Page 10

The Press THURSDAY, JANUARY 25, 1968. North Koreans’ Capture

The Korean War ended in 1953, not with a peace treaty but with an armistice. It has been an uneasy truce and neither the many breaches of the ceasefire nor, more recently, the war in Vietnam have permitted any prospect of a treaty, let alone reunification of North and South Korea. Last year, border incidents became almost daily events. South Korea has not regarded the risk of a return to outright war as high mainly because it has by far the larger army of 600,000 men supplemented by about 55,000 United States troops. Although China put 800,000 men into the 1950-53 war the Chinese today would probably adopt the same policy as they do on Vietnam: China would intervene only against an American invasion of the North. Like the North Vietnamese, the North Koreans regard the presence of American forces over the border as an “ imperialist ” affront, a provocation for war at any moment. The North has explored the ground for a guerrilla struggle. Its attempts to win the support of peasants in the South do not seem to have succeeded. Other methods of upsetting the Government in Seoul in preparation for eventual reunification and Communist control have to be found. The seizure of the United States vessel Pueblo yesterday may be an extension of the North Korean Government’s efforts to convince its people that the United States is trying to start a new agressive war in Korea. This theme has so far supported strenuous war preparations in the North and the organising of a big militia of peasants and factory workers. South Korean authorities have argued that the war scare in the North was only meant to divert attention from economic failures and to win aid from Russia. The Pueblo incident must cast doubt on that explanation. The raising of tension along the armistice line has probably been calculated to restrict South Korea’s readiness to send troops to Vietnam The capture of the Pueblo in the Sea of Japan carries threats of something much more serious—a warning to Americans that trouble for them in Asia may not end in Vietnam, Laos, or Cambodia.