Nuclear weapons

Press, 10 May 1982, Page 24

Nuclear weapons

Sir,—Once I, ignorant and uncaring, believed National Party and American propaganda; now I read history and care about underprivileged people. H. F. Newman (May 5) says that America’s atom bombs ended the war; I say they could have been demonstrated in an uninhabited area and the great majority of Japanese, being trained to obey their Emperor, would not have continued fighting. North Korea did not occupy ninetenths of the south “at the

start”; perhaps nine-tenths of the South wanted the Communists who had beaten the Japanese (without atomic bombs). Hundreds of thousands demonstrated and revolted against Syngman Rhee’s installation by the Americans when he had won less than 20 per cent of a massively rigged poll. Soldiers defected in thousands. Rhee's regime was not a democracy but a reign of terror. Pages 1323 of Gittings’ and McCormack’s “Crisis in Korea” describe the situation analytically.—Yours, etc., SUSAN TAYLOR. May 8, 1982.