189. Editorial Note
President Johnson planned to travel to Honolulu on April 4, 1968, for consultations with various officials on the situation in Vietnam following the Tet Offensive and the President’s initiatives outlined in his Address to the Nation on March 31. (For text, see Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Lyndon B. Johnson, 1968–69, Book I, pages 469–476.) President Pak had accepted an invitation to meet with President Johnson in Honolulu on April 7. Following the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., on April 4 and the subsequent civil disorders that erupted in Washington and other major urban centers, President Johnson postponed his trip and scheduled meeting with President Pak.
Rescheduling the Presidential meeting was complicated by circumstances in Korea. President Pak was reluctant to agree to meet with President Johnson after learning he would first meet with President Thieu of South Vietnam. President Pak believed that to meet under those circumstances would cause him to lose face and would create the impression that he was merely a follower, rather than a leader of high stature. Korean officials also worried that the presence of both [Page 410] Presidents Pak and Thieu “would make it look to world that President Johnson had brought to Honolulu two leading objectors to bombing pause policy in order to force them into line and accept bombing pause publicly announced by President Johnson on March 31.” (Telegram 5637 from Seoul, April 11; National Archives and Records Administration, RG 59, Central Files 1967–69, POL 7 US) President Pak strongly opposed President Johnson’s decision to halt the bombing in Vietnam and seek a negotiated settlement with North Vietnam. (Intelligence Information Cable, TDCS 314/06457–68, April 17, and Intelligence Information Cable, TDCS 314/06455–68, April 17; Johnson Library, National Security File, Country File, Korea, Cables, Vol. VI)
President Pak was also affected by President Johnson’s announced withdrawal from the upcoming U.S. Presidential election. The Embassy learned that President Pak, who valued his close, personal relationship with Johnson, was upset that he received no advance information about the President’s announcement. Intelligence reports characterized President Pak as “depressed deeply over President Johnson’s decision not to seek re-election and the possible ramifications on future U.S. security policies toward Korea and Asia.” President Pak reportedly repeated frequently that with President Johnson in office “for the first time in Korean diplomatic history, a major world power had treated Korea on an equal country-to-country basis.” (Intelligence Information Cable, TDCS 314/06457–68, April 17; ibid.) Facing the loss of a strong supporter of Korea in the White House, President Pak and other Korean leaders were uneasy about the upcoming change in U.S. leadership. (Telegrams from Seoul and memoranda from Rostow to the President, April 11 and 12; ibid., International Meetings and Travel, Honolulu, [2 of 2]; ibid., Country File, Korea, Vol. VI; and National Archives and Records Administration, RG 59, Central Files 1967–69, POL 7 US)
President Johnson, who arrived in Hawaii on April 15, greeted President Pak at the Honolulu airport the evening of April 16 (see footnote 1, Document 191), and the two met the following day; see Document 194. President Johnson met with no other Asian leader while in Hawaii and returned to the United States on April 18. (Johnson Library, President’s Daily Diary) Remarks by both Presidents as well as the joint communique issued at the conclusion of their meeting on April 17 are in Department of State Bulletin, May 6, 1968, pages 574–577. Extensive documentation on the meeting is in the Johnson Library, National Security File, International Meetings and Travel, Honolulu [2 of 2]; ibid., [Meeting with Park], April 1968; ibid., Special Head of State Correspondence, Korea, January 1, 1968 to November 30, 1968; ibid., Country File, Korea, Cables, Vol. VI; and National Archives and Records Administration, RG 59, Central Files 1967–69, POL KOR S–US; and ibid., POL 7 US.