MONTHLY REPORT - SEOUL BUREAU - MAY 1985

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP86-00040R000300610008-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 28, 2011
• Sequence Number: 8
• Publication Date: June 4, 1985
• Content Type: MEMO

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MSK-5012
4 June 1985
MEMORANDUM FOR: Director, FBIS
THROUGH : Chief, Operations Group
SUBJECT : Monthly Report - Seoul Bureau - May 1985
I. GENERAL
1. The major event of the month for the Embassy and the Bureau was the
23-26 May occupation of the USIS library in Seoul by Korean university students.
Throughout the occupation, the Bureau was under pressure to provide rapid
processing of official ROK reaction, as well as media treatment by North and
South. Items on the subject were hand-delivered almost hourly to all key
players in the Embassy. At the suggestion of the DCM, Embassy officers showed
the students Pyongyang material on the takeover monitored by the Bureau, to
demonstrate how the DPRK was using the incident to damage the South and possibly
disrupt the North-South Red Cross talks scheduled to begin 27 May in Seoul.
On the evening of the 25th, the Bureau alerted the Embassy to an abrupt appear-
ance in ROK media of statements and commentary opposing the U.S. approach of
trying to solve the incident through dialogue with the students. This came at
a time when some ROK Government officials were advising Embassy staff that the
time had come to remove the students by force, and the change in media tone
probably reflected a campaign to manipulate public opinion in favor of the use
of force. Also on the 25th, the Embassy requested Bureau assistance in rapid
translation of a letter to the student occupiers from Kim Tae-chung and Kim
Young-sam, the two most influential ROK opposition polititians. The Embassy
needed text of the letter in English immediately, and it was quickly translated
by Korean monitor On the 26th, a few hours after the students
peacefully left the library, Embassy secretaries used Bureau transcribers and
typewriters to facilitate transcription of a lengthy press conference by
Ambassador Walker and other senior Embassy officers on the conclusion of the
takeover. Political Counselor Harry Dunlop, who handled most of the negotiations
with the students, expressed specific thanks to the Bureau for its support at
the weekly Country Team meeting on the 31st.
2. Another event in front of the Embassy, though less widely reported
than the USTS sit-in, also reveals something about the Korean character. On
the afternoon of the 10th the Bureau Chief was brought to his feet by a loud
crash on the street outside. He looked out the window to see that two cases
of soft drinks had fallen from a passing truck, spreading a wide swath of
broken glass across the busy avenue. Literally within seconds, a previously
invisible group of uniformed street cleaners appeared, armed with brooms,
large dustpans and a wheel barrow. Dodging heavy traffic, they cleaned up
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the entire mess in considerably less than five minutes. This has led
several observers to suggest thESeoul's constant tidy appearance may be
due to a vast, unsung cleaning crew that waits underground, always alert
to the sound of breaking glass.
II. OPERATIONS
A. Monitorial/Editorial
1. A variety of events other than the USIS occupation helped
push the Bureau's total publishable wordage and Korean translated wordage
figures to all-time highs. Total wordage was just under 730,000, only the
second time the Bureau has topped the 700,000 mark.
2. In Seoul, the recently elected National Assembly opened its first
session on 13 May, featuring a vibrant opposition party for the first time in
the history of the Fifth Republic. The opposition New Korea Democratic Party
led off the session by demanding discussion of several issues that the ruling
DJP sees as anathema. The confrontational nature of such politics, and the
ROK media's willingness or ability to report on them, demands broader and
more diligent selection from the ROK media, and the Bureau has raised its
selection threshold accordingly in response to this new reality.
3. North and South Korea opened the long-delayed economic and
Red Cross talks during the month, with both sides quickly surfacing proposals
to open trade and resolve the problem of reunifyiagv, families separated during
the Korean War. North and South continued to offer proposals for beginning
Parliamentary talks during the month as well, with the South proposing pre-
liminary discussions on the subject for 10 July. The Bureau filed extensive
official reportage and media comment from both sides on the various aspects
of the talks, with many of the items used as the basis for Embassy cables.
4. Other contributors to the record monthly wordage were visits to
the DPRK by Chinese leader Hu Yaobang early in May, and Bulgaria's Todor
Zhivkov in the last few days of the month. The Zhivkov visit in particular,
with voluminous reportage on several dinners, leader meetings, and tours,
added significantly to the Bureau workload.
5. In an effort to reduce the workload on Chinese monitors in Hong
Kong, in mid-May Seoul took over coverage of Hebei and Beijing City radios
and the two provincial papers of the area. This additional work probably
will nudge translated wordage in Seoul's Chinese Unit to an average of over
100,000 words per month--well over double what it was in 1983, before Hong
Kong transferred coverage of five provincial papers to Seoul.
B. Communications
Continuing problems with the new Primary Mode II communications path
through Clark AFB caused the Bureau and TCU to temporarily switch back to the
old Opath until Clark completes the upgrade of its equipment, which should
end the poor quality of the circuit.
STAT
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C. Technical
The Bureau received three new Sony transcribers from Headquarters
--the first installment of a Headquarters-approved plan to gradually replace
all the Bureau's aging transcribers over 2 years. In addition, some 35 old
audio cassette recorders, recently made redundant with the purchase of
improved replacements,. were sold at Embassy auction.
III. ADMINISTRATION
Personnel
Chief, Seoul Bureau
Attachment
Monthly Production Report
cc: Chief, Hong Kong Bureau
Acting Chief, Okinawa Bureau
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SEOUL BUREAU PRODUCTION REPORT FOR May, 1985
I. TOTAL FROM ALL SOURCES:
TOTAL PUBLISHABLE WORDAGE FILED DURING MONTH: 729,960
TOTAL NON-PUBLISHABLE WORDAGE FILED DURING MONTH: 147,630
TOTAL NLMBER OF PUBLISHABLE ITEMS FILED DURING MONTH: 1,804
II. INPUT OF REGULAR COVERAGE:
(minutes or issues per week)
BROAD- PRESS
CASTS AGENCIES
13,265 5,850
min min
PUBLI-
CATIONS
104
issues
Ill. OUTPUT FROM ALL SOURCES:
(publishable words per month)
CHINA (PRC)
Beijing in
Korean to Korea
3,950
Beijing city service in
Mandarin
900
Changchun Jilin provincial Service in
Mandarin
4,570
Harbin Heilongjiang Provincial Service in
Mandarin
15,550
Hohhot Nei Monggol Regional Service in
Mandarin
5,450
Jinan Shandong Provincial Service in
Mandarin
8,270
Shenyang Liaoning Provincial Service in
Mandarin
5,050
Shijiazhuang Hebei Provincial Service in
Mandarin
2,550
Tianjin City Service in
Mandarin
4,540
Beijing BEIJING RIBAD in
-0-
Chinese
Changchun JILIN RIBAD in
2,050
Chinese
Harbin HEILONGJIANG RIBAO in
3,570
Chinese
Hohhot NEIMENGGU RIBAO in
16,300
Chinese
Jinan DAZHONG RIBAD in
1,850
Chinese
Shenyang LIAONING RIBAO IN
4,950
Chinese
Shijiazhuang HEBEI RIBAO in
Chinese
Tianjin TIANJIN RIBAO IN
55,100
Chinese
CLANDESTINE
(Clandestine) Voice of the Revolutionary
Party for Reunfication in
290
54
Korean to South Korea
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BROAD-
CASTS
PRESS
AGENCIES
PUBLI-
CATIONS
KOREA (NORTH)
Pyongyang Domestic Service in
620
150
Korean
Pyongyang KCNA in
,
169,950
English
Pyongyang KULL JA in
Korean
KOREA (SOUTH)
Seoul Domestidc Service in
Korean
29,230
Seoul YONHAP in
English
51,300
Seoul CHOSON ILBO in
950
7
Korean
Seoul CHUANGANG ILBO in
,
7,050
Korean
Seoul HANGUK ILBO in
4,950
Korean
Seoul KYONGHYANG SINMUN in
500
Korean
Seoul SEOUL SINMUN in
3,270
Korean
Seoul THE KOREA HERALD in
58,990
English
Seoul THE KOREA TIMES in
36,230
English
Seoul TONG-A ILBO in
15,180
Korean
UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLICS
Moscow in
Korean to Korea
5,800
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