Korea Times January 18, 2005
Washington Asked Late President to Beef Up Troops in Vietnam
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade on Monday released a Korean version of the ''Brown Memorandum,'' which Seoul and Washington signed in March 1966 to pave the way for South Korea's additional troop dispatch to Vietnam.
Around 312,000 South Korean troops went to Vietnam, where more than 5,000 of them died. But the Seoul government was able to earn hard currency from the U.S., giving a boost to South Korea's economic growth, historians in Seoul said.
Then President Park Chung-hee, who had already dispatched a combat division to Vietnam in October 1965, decided to accept Washington's request for Seoul to send additional troops to the battleground in February the next year.
In return for Seoul's agreement with the additional troop dispatch, Washington signed the Brown Memorandum _ named after then U.S. ambassador to Seoul Winthrop G. Brown _ promising year-long military provisions and a $150 million loan for South Korea.
The U.S. envoy said his government would shoulder all expenses for South Korean operations in the 1960-75 Vietnam War.
The 14-point memorandum focused on helping the South Korean military gain the competitive edge against North Korea's armed forces, which were considered stronger than those of the South at that time.
From the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, the North maintained a combat posture that would launch surprise attacks against the South at any time. Under such high tension, the Seoul government needed to modernize its military installations, said Professor Woo Seong-ji of the Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security in Seoul.
''One more important reason that played a major role in persuading Park to agree with the Brown Memorandum was his concern that the U.S. could relocate a large portion of its troops in South Korea to beef up its forces in Vietnam,'' Woo told The Korea Times.
The memorandum's contribution to South Korea's military modernization, however, is estimated small, according to a U.S.-based think tank GlobalSecurity.org.
''The improvement of the South Korean force, though limited, was initiated through the U.S. Brown Memorandum,'' the think tank said on its Web site. ''The memorandum led only to modest improvements such as provision of old-model tanks and M-16 rifles to the South Korean forces in Vietnam.''The English version of it, signed on March 7, 1966, was first made public in the 1990s by the United States.
Officials in Seoul said the late release of the Korean version was caused by the ministry's different standard in making public the diplomatic documents.
''Some of us argued that the Brown Memorandum should have been released in 1996, 30 years after the signing of the deal,'' a ministry official said. ''But the other argument was considered more persuasive. It said the document should be released in 2005, 30 years after the end of the war.''The ministry usually makes diplomatic documents available to the public 30 years after agreements are concluded.
© Copyright 2005, Hankook Ilbo
