The minister...

FROM PAGE 6

- 

There was still a curfew on after midnight for security reasons.

After the trauma of the war, there was not unnaturally an obsession with security. Many important figures of government, from the President downwards, were figures with a military background. The people appeared to be obedient and disciplined. Their capacity for work seemed to be remarkable.

Both in Seoul and Pusan I had the experience of going down for breakfast at about 6.45 a.m. and being unable to find a seat in the quite large coffee shops in the hotels. At practically every table there were lounge suit clad businessmen with their brief cases opened, calculators, note pads and reams of documents spread out, avidly engrossed in business discussions. I had never seen such a sight of mass business discussions, at such an early hour anywhere else in the world. We were told that if we wished to have undelayed seating, 5.45 a.m. was a better time than 6.45 a.m!

Whilst in Pusan I had extensive discussions with our officers as well as representatives of the ship building firm and others. Things were that much more difficult for us because we did not at the time have an Embassy in South Korea. I had therefore to do a lot of drafting by hand, whilst the Legal and Insurance Manager kept hand written minutes of our various discussions.

By now the Korean parties were getting frantic, because the day had been fixed for the acceptance of the vessel and invitations had gone out to important people. My refusal to accept the vessel without further investigation was heading towards delay and loss of face for them. I sympathized but could not compromise. I had also discussed the whole matter in detail with our Legal and Insurance Manager who fully supported me.