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Focuses on the proposal for democracy in the authoritarian government of South Korea by the presidential candidates in the U.S. Discussion of the demands for political reforms; Role of Confucian culture in the prevention of democratic development; Implication for political reform in the country.

The article addresses the current turmoil in South Korea, which came into modernity and independence under brutal circumstance, as of June 1980. The state was propelled into the necessity of forming an enormous military establishment and developing the structures of military command. A large and modernized army has functioned in the state. South Korea is still of strategic importance both to Japan and the U.S. Admonitions to Seoul about restraint are in order, but the U.S. has an opportunity to show that it has learned something from its dissociation from the Shah of Iran.