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reforms of . Whatever its depredations abroad, the U.S. CIA has never
had such a domestic role; in fact, it is prohibited by law from such activities.
The great majority of CIA activities are routine and even boring. These in-
volve study and analysis of economic trends, political analysis from such
open sources as newspapers, electronic media, and other such analytical
work. Most American CIA employees are little more than ordinary office
workers, and they rarely experience anything more exciting than a bad
traffic jam on their way home from work.Anti-Americanism, Trade, and “Nordpolitik”One of Ambassador Gregg’s top priorities after arrival was how to counter
the growing anti-Americanism in South Korea.^4 He believed that one of the
reasons for this increasing problem was a failure to deal in a more direct
manner with the confusion surrounding the American role during the /
incident and its aftermath, particularly the American role in the Kwangju
tragedy. It was not until June, , that the U.S. government even made a
formal statement on this period.
There were several reasons for this delay. First, until , when the
Korean National Assembly began its own investigation of these events and
requested U.S. cooperation, there had been no formal request by the ROK
government for an explanation of the U.S. role. Second, there was a natu-
ral bureaucratic reluctance in Washington to go back and address such
matters, especially since over eight years had passed and the issue was not
a domestic political concern in the United States. Also, most people did not
associate anti-Americanism in Korea directly with these events. The most
important reason, however, was that it would have been impossible to issue
a comprehensive statement without embarrassing the Chun Doo Hwan
government. Once Chun left office there was less resistance, and a fairly
comprehensive statement was released in June, .
Ambassador Gregg believed this statement had taken far too long to be
issued. He had a strong affinity for the Korean people and felt a personal
obligation to do anything possible to improve mutual understanding and
stop the growing tide of anti-American feeling.
Gregg’s deep affection for Koreans was largely a result of his CIA back-
ground. In addition to having been personally involved in negotiating the
rescue of Kim Dae Jung in , as a young man Gregg had secretly trained
Korean agents for behind-the-lines intelligence work during the Korea War.
I remember quite clearly his warm description of the young South Koreans