• military affairs were my department, most of my knowledge of what was
transpiring between the embassy and the Seoul government on this politi-
cal issue came secondhand. I do know, however, that the embassy’s Politi-
cal Section was very concerned about the situation and was trying hard to
convince the Blue House to take a softer approach.^5
On October I drove to Chinhae on the south coast of Korea west of
Pusan to visit our three foreign-area officers, who were attending the ROK
Army Staff College and were under my supervision. I received briefings on
their training progress and some routine administrative matters, spending
the evening of the twenty-sixth at dinner with a friend, Mike Eggerman.
Early on the morning of October , I was awakened by Maj. Ash Ormes,
one of our three students, to receive the news that President Park had been
shot the previous evening. A new and critical stage in the relationship be-
tween the United States and South Korea was about to begin.