Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969–1976, Volume XIX, Part 1, Korea, 1969–1972

125. Memorandum From John H. Holdridge of the National Security Council Staff to the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger)¹

Washington, February 12, 1972.

SUBJECT

• Recommendation That You See Korean Ambassador Kim Before Peking Trip

You found it necessary to postpone Ambassador Kim Dong-jo’s call on you scheduled for noon last Thursday, and have not been able to schedule a new time. He has been trying to see you since early December to press President Park’s request for a summit meeting with the President, and his Government’s related anxieties over our handling of the Korean question.

Park’s nervousness over the Peking trip is well known to you. Growing out of his concerns for Korea’s fate in the changing Northeast Asian context was (1) Park’s imposition of a limited emergency in South Korea to tighten political control, and (2) his insistence on a summit meeting with the President. Apparently to try to force our hand on a summit meeting, Park has invoked his prime leverage—a threat to pull his two divisions out of Vietnam after next May.² (You have our recommendation that the President agree to a brief, informal meeting in San Clemente between the Peking and Moscow trips.) Two weeks ago North Korea further exacerbated Park’s suspicions of us with their ploy suggesting that they negotiate with us directly and privately the withdrawal of U.S. troops from South Korea.³ Our drastic reduction of FY 72 military assistance, word of which he will get in the near future, will push his anxieties up a few notches more.

Ambassador Kim admittedly is not the most effective foreign envoy in town, and Park probably depends more on Ambassador Habib to get his messages through. Nevertheless, I think we should avoid adding to Park’s suspicions at this juncture by, as he would take it, holding his Ambassador at an arm’s length. Seconding Marshall Green’s strong recommendation to you yesterday, I believe it is highly important for you to try to see Kim at least briefly before we leave for Peking next Thursday.

Recommendation

That you authorize me to arrange with Coleman Hicks a brief call for Ambassador Kim before next Thursday.⁴

1. Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 543, Country Files, Far East, Korea, Vol. V, 1 Jan–31 Dec 1972, Part 2. No classification marking. Sent for action. Sent through Haig.
2. See Document 124.
3. Telegrams 799 and 812 from Seoul, February 9 and 10, reported the North Korean requests for private talks. (National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 543, Country Files, Far East, Korea, Vol. V, 1 Jan–31 Dec 1972, Part 2)
4. Kissinger initialed his approval and wrote the following note at the bottom of the page: “He is a pain in the neck. HK”. A notation in an unknown hand at the top of the first page reads: “Set for 5:50 p.m. 16 Feb 72.” According to Kissinger’s Record of Schedule, he and Holdridge met with Kim from 5:52 to 6:01 p.m. (Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, Kissinger Papers, Box 438, Miscellany, 1968–1976, Record of Schedule) No record of the meeting has been found.