"Revitalization" or Retrogression in Politics? (c)
President Pak, a peasant's son, keeps in touch with his "riceroots" by leading off in paddy planting on the anniversary of the 1961 coup
The revival of past patterns is perhaps clearest in Pak's approach to political "renovation." His style combines some modern political methods and forms with the age-old tradition of authoritarian rule. The President's autocratic proclivities, however, finally became painfully clear in 1972. In late 1971 he had proclaimed a state of national emergency, partly to prepare the country for talks with the North. Then in October 1972 came his sweeping "Revitalizing Reforms," along with martial law, rigid censorship, and the arrest or harassment of those who might object. He justified these actions on the grounds that they were needed if he was to engage in a successful dialog with the North over the issue of Korean reunification.
Pak's move was no spur-of-the-moment improvisation. It had been long prepared in secret, though the precise timing was perhaps fortuitous. As early as November 1969, Pak proclaimed in a major speech that the 1970's would be a "decade of national revitalization." Moreover, the October reforms merely
