740.00119 Control (Korea)/8–1247: Telegram
The Political Adviser in Korea (Jacobs) to the Secretary of State
270. Cite Zpol 1019. I concur in telegram which General Hodge sent to Assistant Secretary Hilldring (Zgcg 1013) yesterday.
Since I came here 2 months ago (the records show same thing for several months prior to my arrival) the leaders of certain rightist groups, particularly Syngman Rhee and Kim Koo, have carried on in the press and through underground channels a campaign which has as its objective the undermining of the prestige of General Hodge, and to a less extent that of Military Government. The General and Military Government have become the symbols of frustration of these rightist leaders over their failure to be anointed as the sole leaders in South Korea and supported in their campaign to circumvent the [Page 750] Trusteeship provisions of the Moscow decision. The central theme of this campaign is that General Hodge and his aides are not carrying out the policy of the United States Government with respect to Korea as laid down in Washington.
To allow such a situation to go unchallenged would be bad in any country but in an oriental country, especially such as Korea which was for so many years completely under the domination of dictatorial Japan, such villification of the highest officials of the American Government can only lead to an undermining of the prestige and authority of those officials. In the days of the Japanese occupation such lese majesty would have been punished by death. Today, in North Korea, it is punished by death or slavery.
A general statement by the higher authorities in Washington is needed for dissemination here to combat the campaign. Without that, statements of officials here are useless. The only other alternative would be for General Hodge to suppress rightist papers and possibly incarcerate Syngman Rhee and Kim Koo, but this he cannot do, not only because of the uproar which would be created here but also that in the United States by misguided liberals like Baldwin of the Civil Liberties Society [sic]. Thus, while we delay, the Soviet stooges continue to take advantage of the situation and make hay while the sun shines.
If we change our policy here, as there are indications that we may do, there is all the more reason for a statement from Washington or otherwise General Hodge’s position will be most difficult as he points out in his telegram.
The following are some recent evidences of the campaign referred to above. In a memorandum dated July 15 to General Wedemeyer signed by Messrs. Oliver, Limb, Staggers and Williams of Washington, which is in Rhee’s possession here and being circulated by him among his followers, there occurs following statement:
“General Hodge and his State Department advisers in Korea (the memorandum mentions Bunce and Bertsh64) should be replaced. General Hodge has lost the confidence of the Korean people in his ability to accomplish the announced objective, namely, the establishment of a free and independent Korean Government”.
I have a belief that there is some law under which these American citizens might be prosecuted for such interference in our foreign relations.
Although there is a constant stream of such articles, the following, translated from the July 30th issue of rightist newspaper in Seoul Dae Han Ilbo, a mouthpiece of Rhee, is a typical example: [Page 751]
“On September 6 the year before last when the United States Army occupied Korea, how enthusiastically we Korean people welcomed them. Whenever we heard their footsteps, everyone, young and old, men and women, welcomed them with cheers of banzai.
“Two years have elapsed. Our gratitude toward the American Army has been changed to disillusionment and grudges. Our yearnings to foster friendly relations with Americans have been turned into anti-American feelings. This is a serious matter. We cannot help asserting that the responsibility for it lies with Lt. General Hodge, the commanding general.
“While General Hodge is not the direct cause of all the people’s suffering, he becomes an indirect cause and gets the blame because he is the top of the statesmen who watch the leftists who obstruct Korean independence. The following important illustrations testify that he is indirectly responsible:
- (1)
- “General Hodge has stuck to the Moscow Agreement, Russia’s chief instrument to communize Korea by trusteeship, so literally that he cannot grasp the life between the lines of the agreement. The result is that he can not make use of the anti-Communist policy of the State Department. In other words, by suppressing the anti-trusteeship group he stirred up the morale of the leftist Red mob.
- (2)
- “He released 6,999 devils from prison. Since then terroristic activities in South Korea have increased and Koreans capable of self-government have been disgraced in the eyes of the world.
- (3)
- “In Seoul alone there are 32 daily newspapers to which only 5 or 6 belong to the rightist[s] while the rest are mouth organs of the leftists and their kinsmen, the middle of the roaders. The Government authorities have no way of controlling these papers and let the Reds carry on their heaven and earth sweeping propaganda. General Hodge trusts and employs the leaders of the middle of the road group and this policy becomes a hotbed of cultivating leftist strength in South Korea.
“Because of one American statesman, the ill feelings of the Koreans towards Americans have reached a point that they begin to call them names. As time goes by the ill feelings may become worse than that toward Japan. Before it reaches there we request General Hodge to reflect very deeply”.65