Introduction

For a country as small as Korea, it definitely has plenty of books written about it.  So many in fact, that it may be hard to sift through the many mediocre books to find the really good ones.  However, when a ROK Drop reader recommended the book Eye on Korea to me; I was confident this was going to be a quality read.

This is because the author James V. Young was the first US defense attaché to the Republic of Korea that served at the US Embassy in Seoul at critical times in recent Korean history.  If anyone would have an insightful story to tell about their involvement with the Korean peninsula it would be Young.  After finishing reading the book I can say that my expectations were met and then some.

Review

The book opens up describing James Young’s prior experiences in the US Army before becoming a defense attaché, which included combat duty in Vietnam and a tour in South Korea, which sparked his interest in the country.  He was thinking about getting out of the Army when he applied and got accepted for training to become the first ever US Army area expert for Korea.  After receiving language, cultural, and international relations schooling Young then traveled to Korea in 1972 to immerse himself in the local culture which he did by going on multi-week hikes throughout the Korean countryside.  It was during this time that Young made an observation about Korea I couldn’t agree more with, that the heart and soul of Korea is in the countryside.  This is still true today because I have traveled all over the Korean countryside and some of my best memories of Korea come from the people I have interacted with there.

Young then goes on to describe his observations from the first Korean nuclear crisis, the Panmunjom tree cutting incident, and former President Jimmy Carter’s troop withdrawal policy.  The troop withdrawal issue was one well described in the book.  It was especially interesting to read about how then Korean President Park Chung-hee scolded President Carter during his trip to Korea in regards to his troop withdrawal policy.  Carter was furious after the meeting.  Later that day American officials such as US Ambassador to South Korea, William Gleysteen ended up siding with Park, which further infuriated Carter.  Ultimately Carter had to abandon his USFK troop withdrawal policy because nearly no one including his own advisors agreed with him on it.

Cover of Ambassador Gleysteen’s book shows Presidents Carter and Park together during their summit in Seoul.

As interesting as this part of the book was, probably the most fascinating part of Eye on Korea is Young’s involvement with the events surrounding the 1980 Gwangju Uprising.  Young provides a sharp critique of US policy during this tragic period of Korean history such as how intelligence was overlooked that indicated that Chun Doo-hwan may take action to execute a coup following the assassination of Park Chung-hee.  If Chun’s coup could have been prevented the events at Gwangju would have never happened.  Another critique directly related to the events of Gwangju that is still the case today is the US Embassy’s public relations strategy in Korea.  The US government wanted to make it clear that the United States did not support the actions in Gwangju.  However, the local Korean news stations were controlled by Chun and would not broadcast this information to the Korean people.

Chun wanted to ensure that his actions at Gwangju had the appearance of being endorsed by the United States in order to deflect responsibility for the results of the siege of the city. Young and some of his colleague had come up with the idea of passing out leaflets throughout the streets of Seoul to get the US message out which the US Embassy overruled considering it not accepted practice of a US embassy.  In the mean time Chun Doo-hwan was busy creating the perception that the US government approved of his actions in Gwangju.

This perception continues to this day where many Koreans believe the US is responsible for the events that occurred at Gwangju.  This failure to directly engage the Korean people to explain the US’s side of the story of incidents between the US and South Korea continues to this day.  A perfect example of this was the failure to dispel all the false rumors surrounding the 2002 Armored Vehicle Accident and other points of anti-Americanism in Korea in recent years.  USFK has not even established a bilingual webpage yet, much less effectively engage the Korean population.

Chun Doo-hwan

Many other important events such as the CFC status of the ROK paratroopers who initially moved into the city, the USFK decision to sign off on the deployment of the ROK 20th Division to Gwangju, and USFK Commander General John A. Wickham and Ambassador Gleysteen’s involvement with the Gwangju decision making is fascinating reading.  Young’s observations concerning the Gwangju Uprising along with his policy recommendations in the aftermath of the incident are worth the price of the book in of itself for any serious Korea scholar.

The book goes on to describe Young’s observations of important Korean figures and events from the 1980’s such as the military dictators Chun Doo-hwan and his successor Roh Tae-woo, the democracy movement in Korea, and Seoul’s hosting of the 1988 Olympic Games.  Some other minor stories such as when General Wickham kicked Chun Doo-hwan and his entourage off the Yongsan Golf Course are also quite interesting to read about.

The book ultimately concludes with the then Colonel Young retiring but still being heavily involved with the Korean peninsula by being asked to participate in a trip to North Korea sponsored by the civilian organization, The International Security Council.  Young’s observations interacting with and negotiating with the North Koreans is extremely interesting reading.  Young would also later go on to serve as an adviser to a company looking to start a mining operation in North Korea.  Young’s hilarious narrative of the North Korean team that traveled to New York City to negotiate the deal had me thinking of a North Korean version of the Crocodile Dundee movie.

Conclusion

Overall, Eye on Korea is a great book, but I would not recommend this book for anyone that doesn’t already have a background in Korean history and culture.  This book is for those who are looking to get a deeper understanding of important events in modern Korean history from someone who was an insider involved in all of these events.  The book is a short read of 171 pages, but it definitely delivers and I recommend it to anyone serious about expanding their knowledge and understanding of the Korean peninsula.

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Note: For those interested Eye on Korea is available on Amazon.com.