Eye on Korea_ An Insider Account of Korean-American Relations

 •   

A Visit from the Japanese Attaché

The Japanese military attaché, Col. Ahiro Hagino, arrived at my house in

the late morning. Like myself, he still had not been to sleep and looked hag-

gard and tired. I asked about the Japanese Embassy’s assessment of the situ-

ation, which I learned was similar to our own. He then pulled from his

pocket a notepad in which he had some handwritten notes listing the Ko-

rean military units that were suspected of having participated in the pre-

vious evening’s activities. Although we were still in the process of compiling

such information, our initial list was similar but not identical to his. Later

it was determined that there were mistakes on both, but the Japanese had

very accurate information, far better than any of the other attachés and

their respective embassies.

I then mentioned to Hagino that I had seen him briefly the night be-

fore, walking rapidly from the DSC headquarters area toward his embassy.

He looked surprised and said that he had been performing an inspection

of the area but was stopped by a sentry and told to return to his embassy,

which he did. We discussed some more matters, and then the colonel de-

parted.

I was a little suspicious that the Japanese were able to be so well informed,

thinking that they might have had some prior knowledge about /. Af-

ter considering all the facts, however, I dismissed the idea, though they might

have been more culturally sensitive than we Americans to the earlier reports

about Chun’s possible reassignment and the pressure to remove Chung from

the power structure of the army. Also, despite (or perhaps because of) their

unpleasant history, the Japanese and Koreans share enough similarities in

the way they think that they sometimes understand each other better than

Americans are capable of doing. At any rate, their military attaché was well

trained and hardworking, and that was probably the main reason they were

so well informed.

A Visit from a 9th Division Officer

In the early afternoon I consulted with Colonel Blottie and some other mem-

bers of the embassy staff. About midafternoon the officer from the th Divi-

sion arrived. I had known him for several years (we remain good friends).

He was a direct subordinate of Maj. Gen. Roh Tae Woo, and his mission was

no secret to either them or us. He was here to determine how badly the pre-

vious night’s events had damaged ROK-U.S. relations.