• the general Korean public, however, I sensed a sullen attitude that was differ-
ent from previous times. Some of this I attributed to resentment of the con-
tinuing authoritarian practices of the Chun Doo Hwan government. There
was also, however, a strong undercurrent of anti-American feeling. This
unfortunate development was fueled by several factors, among which were
continuing suspicions concerning our role during / and the subsequent
Kwangju tragedy, trade friction, and an occasionally hostile Korean press,
which sometimes seemed determined to distort U.S. policies and actions.
Anti-American sentiment would continue to be a factor in the years ahead.
Military-Attaché TrainingFollowing the complete staffing and acceptance of most of the study recom-
mendations, I was notified that I would be assigned to the Defense Intelli-
gence Agency for further assignment as the defense attaché in Seoul. This
would be my fourth assignment to Korea, and I eagerly looked forward to it.
By now DIA had developed a school for prospective attachés. This was
required training for everyone except myself, for I had already served as a
military attaché. Because the alternative was another six months in the
Pentagon, however, I quickly volunteered for the attaché training course,
followed by some Korean-language refresher training.
The attaché course was interesting and enjoyable, and we were able to
listen to many guest lectures from senior officials in the Washington area
and take field trips to interesting places in the United States. There was a
course on antiterrorism, for example, where we learned to escape an am-
bush, avoid a kidnapping attempt, and other James Bond–type activities.
This was not necessary for assignment to South Korea, of course, but some
of our military attachés and diplomats had previously been assassinated or
kidnapped in Europe and the Middle East, so we all received such training.
They also had a short course for our wives since they were expected to do a
lot of entertaining and also be a representative of their country. All in all, it
was a very enjoyable time and not very demanding, and when it was time
to depart once again for Korea, we were refreshed and ready.