Evening star., 1950-10-13
By Ernie Hill
Correspondent Of The Stor and
the Chicago Daily News

OCC. lS.-COIllllQGIlU1dl IcpOl tS VII
conditions in the Republic of
Korea before the outbreak of war
were made available to this cor
respondent this week by Roger N.
Baldwin. internationally known
expert on civil liberties.
Mr.. Baldwin, chairman of the
National Committee for the Amer
lean Civil Liberties Union, went to
Korea and Japan at the invitation
of the United Nations, Gen. Mac
Arthur and the State Department
to investigate social conditions and
recommend improvements.
Now on a similar assignment in
West Germany for the Govern
ment, Mr.. Baldwin gave permis-
sion to this reporter to print
previously unpublished documents
plus a new report on Korean po-
litical and social conditions up to
October, 1850.
Highlights of Investigations.
Highlights of his Investigations
for the past 312 years include:
/. In contrast with the excellent
job done in Japan by Gen. Mac
Arthur, the American military
government bungled the job in
South Korea.
2. President Syngman Rhee was
so reactionary and distrustful of
liberalism that he accused some
high United States military off,
cialS of being communists.
3. DR.. Rhee's great mistake was
In failing to institute land reforms
as Gen. Macarthur did in Japan.
Redistribution of land to peasants
was delayed until the spring of
1850 because of big landowners in
the government. This was too
late.
4. President Rhee lost control of
the Korean congress with last
Mays election. and political in
dependents were about to assume
power.
S. The best thing the United
Nations can do is to insure fair
elections in all Korea and then
help the new government get on
its feet.
'In Grip of Police Regime"
"The country" Mr.. Baldwin re-
ported on May %, 1947, 'is liter
ally in the grip of a police regime
and a private terror which makes
life dangerous for everybody left
OF dead center.
II found over 1000 prisoners
locked up in idleness on sentences
of years just for holding unau-
thorized meetings or engaging in
forbidden strikes
The month following this con-
f1dential report, Mr.. Baldwin re-
turned to Japan which he said
was like part of our world, so
orderly, groomed, functioning."
He said Gen. Macarthur was
doing a great job "democratizing
Japan" while the military occu-
patton in Korea was letting the
liberated" country 'tKoreanize"
itself, which meant mass arrests,
intrigue and cruelty.
Report on Macarthur.
OF Gen. Macarthur, Mr.. Bald
win reported:
"We have worked out some
changes in which he took q more
advanced civil liberties stand than
I was prepared to suggest. I had
hardly counted on finding him
playing the radical to my con-
servative role"
Mr.. Baldwin'S description of DR..
Rhee is considered remarkably
clear. He wrote in a recent COM
munication:
"Syngman Rhee is a friend of
mine, whom I have known for a
. long time, both in the United
States and Korea. He is a pa
triot, with a strongly professed
Democratic faith, clouded by an
obsession with communism.
cit went so far in Korea that
he even described some United
States military officials as Com
munists.
'He suspected almost anyone
who opposed him of Communist
sympathies. DR.. Rhee was so
ambitious for an independent
Korean government that he was
willing to use even quite reac-
tionary elements to serve that
end. He was thus surrounded by
forces opposed to the very reforms
which he honestly stood for.
Land reform is an example. He
believed in it and worked for it..
He saw it was basic to Korean
democracy and to that loyalty to
the government which would make
South Korea strong against the
North.
But the landlords in his party
SO slowed down the reform that
it was not until too late, this
spring, that a land reform law
was passed"
Not Generous to Foes.
Mr.. Baldwin said that in his
opinion DR.. Rhee does not have
the stature to rise above PERSONAL
animosities, to forgive his political
enemies and to reconcile dis
cordant elements. He described
him as charming, witty, forceful,
honest, blic-spirited and world
minded.
But" wrote Mr.. Baldwin, che
is not generous to opponents, and
he lacks the skill of political
compromise.
"He is charged with being dicta-
torial; rather think it obstinacy." :"
-. Mr.. Baldwin stated that more
moderate democratic element WIS
rising in Korea to chance the
political complexion of the gov
eminent. OF this rising demo-
cratic group, he stated:
1T is already there, as the
recent elections in May showed.
They repudiated Rhee in favor of
genuine political independents
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