Delay of Chun’s Visit Proposed : Kim’s U.S. Backers Cite Melee at Seoul Airport

A delegation of American supporters of opposition leader Kim Dae Jung urged Sunday that the Reagan Administration consider postponing President Chun Doo Hwan’s scheduled state visit to the United States in April because of what they described as manhandling tactics by police at the airport Friday when Kim came home from exile.

The group asserted that rough treatment of the Korean dissident and of some of the Americans was a premeditated act that violated assurances it said had been received in advance by both the delegation and the American government.

‘Calculated Affront’

The U.S. delegation issued a statement signed on behalf of the 22 Americans by Reps. Edward F. Feighan (D-Ohio) and Thomas M. Foglietta (D-Pa.), and by Robert E. White, a former U.S. ambassador to El Salvador. It called the episode a “calculated affront to the American government and people” and recommended that the Administration “give serious consideration” to putting off Chun’s visit.

It also criticized Richard L. Walker, the U.S. ambassador to South Korea, contending that he had played down the incident.

Feighan asserted that both Harriet Isom, Korea desk chief at the State Department, and David Straub, a Korea desk officer, had assured him the day before the delegation left Washington that three of its members would be permitted to stay alongside Kim and his wife, Lee Hee Ho, as the couple went through customs at Kimpo Airport and drove to their home in Seoul.

Walker, in turn, criticized the American visitors. Both he and a State Department spokesman in Washington said the delegation had never been told it could stay by Kim’s side.

“They (the Americans in the delegation) had the belief that they would stay with Kim right through to his home. That is simply not true,” David Fitzgerald, embassy spokesman, quoted Walker as saying.

Resistance Put Up

It was when Kim, the two congressmen, and White resisted attempts by Korean plainclothesmen to separate them that the airport fracas occurred.

Three of the Americans, including White and Foglietta, said they were thrown to the floor as Kim and his wife were pushed into an elevator and taken away from the U.S. delegation that had traveled with them in a move to ensure Kim’s safe arrival.

Kim, 61, the opposition candidate 14 years ago in South Korea’s last free presidential election, was convicted of sedition in 1980 after Chun seized power. He was at first sentenced to death, then after American government pressure, had his sentence commuted to 20 years in prison.

Two years ago, he was allowed to go to the United States, ostensibly for medical treatment, but he still faces the balance of the 20-year prison term--though the Chun government last Monday promised not to jail him on his arrival.

The statement issued by the 22 Americans--which was presented by Feighan and White--also complained that Korean Foreign Minister Lee Won Kyong denied in a meeting with leaders of the delegation that any violence had occurred at the airport.

‘No Respect for Law’

“He expressed no regret,” the signers said. “He did not inquire about the well-being of the group, one of whom, Mr. Song Sun Keun (an American citizen), entered a hospital some hours after the airport incident suffering from an apparent stroke. (He also) implied in some vague way which he did not define that we had not shown respect for the laws of Korea.”

Feighan said that “the experience we had at the airport was obviously disturbing, but I have found more disturbing the reaction of the government of the Republic of Korea since the airport incident.”

If the incident had occurred merely because of “overzealous security guards,” it “would have been easily defused by a statement of regret,” Feighan continued. “To the contrary, the government issued very stringent statements not only denying physical abuse . . . but very harshly criticizing members of the delegation.”

White added, “This total hard line that ‘nothing happened’ is further proof that (the manhandling) was premeditated.”

White, the Carter Administration’s last ambassador to El Salvador, has been a vocal critic of Reagan Administration policies in Central America.

On Sunday, White said that the South Korean government had broken a promise to allow embassy officers to meet the delegation at the plane and that this meant “there was no one there to communicate with us.” Ambassador Walker confirmed that.

Ambassador Walker was criticized by the delegation for failing to request a meeting with President Chun to “demand an explanation for the obviously premeditated brutality,” for not accompanying members of the delegation when they met the Korean foreign minister and for not getting firsthand knowledge of the incident from members of the delegation.

Fitzgerald, the embassy spokesman, replied that diplomatic protocol demands that the first approach to a foreign government be at the Foreign Ministry level. Walker, he said, took that step Friday afternoon--hours after the incident--by sending a “stern note” to the Foreign Ministry.

Although the Foreign Ministry late Sunday still had not replied to Walker’s note, the ministry did say it will give a full account of its version of the events, Fitzgerald said. Walker did not accompany the delegation representatives to their meeting with Foreign Minister Lee because the delegation itself had described itself as a private group and because “they did not ask him to go,” the spokesman added.

Fitzgerald also said that Walker has offered to meet members of the delegation to hear their grievances, contrary to its members’ allegations.

“It is totally unfair to categorize the embassy as doing nothing,” Fitzgerald said. “We have met every request this group has made.”

Kim, who was placed under limited house arrest when he arrived at home, was denied permission to go to church Sunday.