The Nome nugget., 1947-05-09

more to he gained than lost by resumng the attempt to establish Korean provisional government and at the time piercing the iron wall that TOT 50 loi's iiS separated the Russian and American zones
 This does not mean that this country has anything to gain by perpetuatng the present division Tn Korea Inc contrary is very decidedly the case.
 With AZ per cent of the country under American oc- cupaton the United States is responsible for the We- fare of two-thirds of Korea's population.
 It cannot be said that since September, l94o, when our troops moved n the lot of those 17 million people has been bettered For all the strenuous efforts made by the U. S. military government authorities and de- spe the relief shipments that this country has poured into Korea their lot has grown Economically in fact many of them feel that they worse off than they were under Japanese rule.
 In part, this deterioration in the economic situation of southern Korea is the direct consequence of Amer can mistakes. To very much greater extent it is the product of the division of Korea into two art- cally divided by the thirty-eighth parallel:
 Normally southern Korea is great food (particuar- ly rice) producing Rice production in southern Korea in 1947 IT per cent below the average pro- ducton of wartime years. In fact have had to food into from the outside to take care of the nmum needs of the population.
 ndustrally the situation in southern Korea Is even and is not likely to improve greatly until the entire country is united.
 Whether the situation in the Russian zone is from economic point of view, any better than it is in our zone is matter of speculation.
 In Korea as elsewhere the Russians operate behind iron curtain, filling the information vacuum thus created with propagandst claims. However, there can be doubt that the people of northern Korea could be better off than they they could draw the food resources and the labor supply of the south.
 With only third of the entire population of the ry the Russian contains the bulk of Koreas heavy industry but does not produce enough food to feed itself It is possible to surmse therefore, that economic pressures have finally led the Russians to nego tiatons looking toward unified Korea. They may be all the inclined in that direction in view of the fact that the process of Soviezng the Russian is very largely completed.
 i Discount as may the detailed Russian claims of largescale land reform carried out in northern Korea during the last year the fact remains that such reforms have certainly been made. Furthermore the Russians have succeeded in creating in Korea, they did in Ger many coalition of left wing groups domnatedby Com munists The socalled Korean labor party represents powerful political spear point which if the zona bar riers were knocked down might given the great multi pcity of parties in the American zone, emerge the dominant political force in Korea.
 Possibly the Russians gambling just that. But that is all the why the American authori- ties should do all they and rapidly they strengthen the democratic forces in so as to enable them to hold their in competition with the Russansponsored groups that have their headquarters in the north.
 Our main concern now, in the future, must be to