’ • xiin eliminating these problems. Basic information on Korea has sometimes
been added to the text, while unnecessary data on the U.S. side has been
cut. Extensive research has been done in the presidential libraries of Gerald
R. Ford and Jimmy Carter and in scholarly and journalistic sources involv-
ing U.S.-Korean relations. In a few cases this has led to corrections in de-
tails in the original text. More often it has resulted in the addition of citations
either to document points or to refer readers to sources that elaborate upon
them. Finally, I have asked Colonel Young to search his memory to provide
elaboration on some points. At his own initiative, he has added chapters on
his experience negotiating a business deal with North Koreans and
reflecting on his four decades of engagement with Korea. The result, I be-
lieve, is a story that remains largely the same as before but will prove more
crisp, more clear, occasionally more detailed, and overall more credible to a
broad audience of Americans interested in Korea.
Far too often our understanding of important events is compromised by
the failure of participants after the fact to invest the time necessary to record
their memories. Those who do take the time are usually people at or near
the top of governments or private institutions. While the resulting stories
represent valuable historical documents, they are written from particular
perspectives and often leave out critical information. With this in mind, we
should be especially grateful to Young, for he provides careful accounts of
many pivotal events in the Korean-American relationship from the perspec-
tive of a lower- or middle-level official who nonetheless possessed expertise
beyond that of most of the people he served. However we judge his conclu-
sions, we cannot ignore the information and the insight he provides.
William Stueck