Kim Scuffle ‘Trivial,’ U.S. Aide Asserts

A scuffle between security police and U.S. supporters of returning opposition leader Kim Dae Jung at Seoul airport 10 days ago was “a trivial incident” in comparison to recent human rights strides in South Korea, Elliott Abrams, assistant U.S. secretary of state for human rights, said Sunday.

Abrams cited as proof of South Korea’s commitment to human rights the legislative elections last week in which allies of Kim, who had formed the New Korea Democratic Party less than a month before the election, won 67 of the 276 seats in the National Assembly, compared to 148 taken by the controlling party of President Chun Doo Hwan.

“That’s a pretty rare event in the Third World,” Abrams said in an interview on CBS News’ “Face the Nation.” “How many Third World countries are there in the entire globe that have this kind of vigorous campaign and an election campaign where the opposition is allowed to fight freely and get a lot of seats in Parliament?”

Kirkpatrick Backs Stand

Abrams’ view was seconded by U.N. Ambassador Jeane J. Kirkpatrick, who appeared on the same program and credited the new South Korean opposition party with “a very nice showing” in an election with a high voter turnout. She characterized the United States as the most outspoken country in the world on behalf of human rights in allied nations.

Abrams said the South Korean election results far overshadowed the fracas that occurred when Kim and his traveling party--made up primarily of Americans, including members of Congress--arrived at the airport in Seoul. Kim, ending two years in exile, and several of the Americans were manhandled by police, they said, and Kim has been under house arrest ever since.

“It’s a trivial incident,” Abrams said. “If you’re talking about the development of democracy in Korea, the return home and not the jailing of Kim Dae Jung is important. These elections in which there was a tremendous showing for the opposition after a vigorous campaign--that’s important. Shoving and scuffling at the airport is just not a very important incident in the political history of South Korea.”

Abrams’ statement was the latest in a series of attempts by Administration officials to play down the significance of the airport scuffle, apparently to avoid embarrassment during President Chun’s upcoming visit to the White House.

Democrat Disagrees

Rep. Edward F. Feighan (D-Ohio), a member of the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on human rights who accompanied Kim to Seoul, strongly disagreed with Abrams. Also appearing on “Face the Nation,” Feighan described the scuffle as “an important incident” in light of the substantial U.S. commitment to South Korea in the form of $250 million in military aid each year and 40,000 American troops stationed there.

“What is most unfortunate is that the South Korean government had an opportunity with the return of Kim Dae Jung to demonstrate that they were, in fact, making efforts at democratization and trying to lift some of the repressive actions and attitudes of the government,” he said. “In fact, they chose the occasion to really offer testimony to some of the harshest criticism against it (South Korea.)”

Feighan denied the assertion of Richard L. Walker, the U.S. ambassador in Seoul, that the airport incident resulted from a misunderstanding between Kim’s party and the South Korean government. He asserted that the Seoul regime violated an agreement negotiated by the U.S. government in advance of Kim’s return.

‘No Misunderstanding’

“There was no time for any misunderstanding because we were descended upon immediately as we left the plane,” he said. “There was no misunderstanding whatsoever.”

Feighan accused Abrams of “overstating the case” in favor of human rights in South Korea. “I think the elections were helpful only in that they demonstrate to us that there is a building opposition to the Chun government and we better listen to that or we will be perceived by the people of South Korea . . . as supporting an authoritarian regime,” he said.

Feighan noted that a 1,453-page report on human rights published by Abrams’ office last week cited numerous violations by the government of South Korea. The report, produced annually by the State Department, is required by law.

Abrams said the report, which he characterized as “extremely tough,” should put to rest charges that the Reagan Administration ignores human rights violations by U.S. allies such as South Korea, Chile, South Africa, the Philippines, El Salvador and Guatemala. He noted that the report condemns apartheid in South Africa and that the section on Guatemala “is filled with references to murder and torture by agents of the government.”