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53
to use the organization to promote the policies of the ROK Government within the
United States. While in Seoul in 1972, Kim Yong Baik, the Secretary General,
drafted a letter to the director of the KCIA in which he stated that KAPA intended
to contribute to the ROK by forming a union of the 100,000 Koreans in the United
States. He asked the director's immediate attention in order to help realize "a
more intimate bond between KAPA and the Government of the motherland." He
proposed that KAPA would conduct anti-Communist educational activities and
work against the invitation of North Korea to the U.N. Noting that KAPA members
who were U.S. citizens could easily contact members of the House and Senate
and give them a new understanding of Korea, he proposed giving KAPA leaders
diplomatic training at the Korean Foreign Service Institute. He implied that KAPA
would promote the interests of the Korean Government in choosing which
Presidential candidate to support. He also stated that KAPA would foster
patriotism for the ROK among young Korean Americans by teaching Korean
language and history. (420)
In the end he told the subcommittee, although he
drafted this letter he thought better of it and did not send it.
Later that same year, Kim drafted a letter to President Park Chung Hee,
praising Park's achievements and repeating many of the proposals he had
included in his earlier draft letter to the KCIA director. In an enclosure to the
letter, Kim wrote that he had been inspired to organize KAPA in 1969 when, after
meeting with President Park in San Francisco, he realized that Korean residents'
associations were not able to carry out the political policy of the ROK
Government. Kim suggested that KAPA be the American counterpart of
"Mindan," the pro-Government, Korean resident organization in Japan. Further,
Kim asked for anti-Communist training in Korea for KAPA members and financial
support for an anti-Communist movement in the United States. Kim also
expressed the hope of KAPA--which he claimed represented all Korean
Americans--that President Park would be reelected in the next elections,
scheduled for 1975. (421) As with the earlier letter, Kim decided not to send it.
The Presidential election was not held because of the establishment of the
Yushin system in October 1972. The Yushin declara-
351
tion provoked controversy in the Korean community in the United
States. KAPA leaders, including Choi Sang Ik and Kim Yong Baik,
acted quickly to release a resolution expressing full support of
Park's Yushin measures in the name of KAPA members. Explain-
ing this decision in a newspaper interview, Choi said the resolution
was adopted because the reunification of Korea required the estab-
lishment of a strong domestic political system. (422) This controversial
action contributed to dissension within KAPA and in the Korean
community.
Also in 1972, KAPA organized a trip to Korea for its leaders to
be partially financed by the Korean Government. According to the
letter from Kim Yong Baik inviting members to join the trip, they
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