103. Editorial Note
On December 1, 1966, Korean officials presented to Ambassador Brown the Korean Government’s proposal for providing additional assistance in Vietnam. The plan, entitled “Proposed Support Program to Pacification Plan of RVN,” consisted of three components: (1) “Support for Stable Life of VN People,” centering on refugee resettlement; medical assistance and social welfare programs; development of agriculture, fishing, and light industry; cultural exchanges and a campaign against illiteracy; and a village project; (2) “National Construction: Rehabilitation and Construction of Military Establishments,” a civilian service corps consisting of Korean workers; and (3) “Assistance to Military Efforts,” with Korea providing a civilian paramilitary unit to carry out support duties within Vietnam and training for Vietnamese military personnel at facilities within Korea. (Telegram 2970 from Seoul, December 3; National Archives and Records Administration, RG 59, Central Files 1964–66, POL 27 VIET S)
After reviewing the proposals, the Embassy concluded that component (1) “fit well into the Vietnamese ‘Revolutionary Development’ Program,” addressed several important needs, and could be advantageously fulfilled by the Koreans, who were “more likely fit readily into and more apt gain acceptance of local Vietnamese societies” than Caucasians from the United States or elsewhere. The Embassy considered component (2) both a continuation of current programs and a significantly more ambitious, and unrealistic, project envisaging between 20 and 50,000 Korean workers being sent to Vietnam as laborers. [Page 225] The Embassy acknowledged the potential value of providing military training to Vietnamese in Korea, but believed the planned paramilitary unit would appear to be an escalation of Korea’s military role in Vietnam and unnecessarily create political opposition to President Pak. (Telegram 2971 from Seoul, December 3; ibid.)