S. Korean Military Warned to Stay Neutral in Election

Defense Minister Chung Ho Yong told South Korea’s military commanders Friday to remain neutral in next month’s presidential election and ensure soldiers the right to cast secret ballots.

“No soldier is allowed to conduct campaign activities for a specific candidate, and in accordance with the military code of conduct, they should maintain political neutrality,” Chung told a meeting of top officers, according to a statement released after the meeting.

Chung’s statement came one day after Kim Jong Pil, presidential nominee of the New Democratic Republican Party, charged that the Defense Ministry was actively encouraging support for Roh Tae Woo, nominee of the ruling Democratic Justice Party.

Kim, who was prime minister under the late President Park Chung Hee, said that the regular promotion of senior officers has been delayed this year because promotions are to be used as a reward for “good results” in the Dec. 16 election.

Kim also said there would be “grave consequences” if there is any cheating in absentee voting by soldiers.

Chung on Friday ordered commanders to set up special booths in every unit to enable soldiers to cast secret absentee ballots. Under South Korea’s election laws, a large majority of the votes cast by the 625,000 members of the armed forces will be absentee ballots that must be sent to the soldiers’ hometowns after they are marked.

The Korea Times, in an editorial Friday, cited a long history of abuse of the absentee balloting system and warned against possible fraud.

‘Election Premiums’

“In the past, the absentee ballots used to be virtually ‘kept’ accounts for ‘election premiums’ for the ruling party, while giving a bitter taste to the opposition forces,” the editorial said. “This was because, in many cases involving military units, absentee voters in uniform were reportedly managed (directed) either to vote for a particular presidential candidate in an open way or to cast votes previously marked for the government party’s candidate.

“In addition, most blank ballots unused by those who abstained from absentee voting were used for the ruling party candidate by proxy voting, constituting an election fraud. . . . “

It is expected that absentee ballots will be cast by about 850,000 voters, constituting 3.3% of the nearly 26 million eligible voters, the newspaper said. About 500,000 of the absentee ballots would be those of soldiers. Not all soldiers have reached the voting age of 20.

Chung, in his statement, condemned “irresponsible statements that discourage the military esteem and morale.”

“Under the slogan of ‘end military rule,’ people in some social quarters now tend to take a negative view of the military establishment or try to estrange the military from citizens,” Chung said.

Chung also said that North Korea “is expected to make an all-out effort to obstruct the 1988 Olympics and to venture total invasion of the south when it judges the conditions for such have been created.”

New Battalion Planned

The army will create a new intelligence battalion next year in order to develop an early-warning system and monitor North Korean troop movements, Chung said. He cited the threat from North Korea in condemning the opposition for its criticisms of the military.

The opposition, however, has kept up sharp criticism of the military-backed government of President Chun Doo Hwan, a former army general who came to power in a 1980 coup, and of Roh, another former general.

Kim Hyung Rhae, spokesman for the opposition Reunification Democratic Party, whose nominee is Kim Young Sam, charged Friday that local government officials have engaged in illegal electioneering on behalf of Roh.

He released a copy of a document directing officials of the provincial county of Sachon in Kyongsangnam province to lobby voters on behalf of Roh. He also charged that officials in Seoul “are mobilized for illegal electioneering by spreading money and throwing large parties for eligible voters.”

The ruling party in turn has said that a “national headquarters for realization of democracy,” formed primarily by supporters of Party for Peace and Democracy nominee Kim Dae Jung, is an “illegal, disguised organization . . . composed of radical, violent elements” that is “supporting a specific candidate while engaged in defaming other candidates under the pretext of working for a fair election.”

Some foreigners--primarily Americans, including some congressional aides--are expected to be in South Korea in unofficial roles as observers seeking to ensure a fair ballot count.