Editorials
Friday, September 20, 1996
Infiltrators underline threat
to Korea peace
NORTH Korea has reinforced its image of dangerous unpredictability by sending armed infiltrators ashore in South Korea from a submarine. Troops found the bodies of 11 infiltrators who apparently preferred to die rather than risk capture. Seven others were shot dead and one was captured and interrogated. A search continued for more infiltrators.The submarine was also captured just off Korea's eastern shore.
South Korean authorities feared that the remaining infiltrators might be planning sabotage. And the possibility was raised that the operation might be a prelude to another invasion from the Communist North. North Korea has periodically sent armed infiltrators into the South, but they are usually in groups of two or three and mostly cross the Demilitarized Zone on foot or are dropped off by boat. The numbers involved in this operation and the use of a submarine were unusual - and ominous.
With the largest massing of hostile troops in the world, Korea remains a powder keg despite the ending of the Cold War in Europe. There is little doubt that North Korea could launch another war without notice.
The death of dictator Kim Il-sung two years ago has if anything heightened uncertainty about North Korea's intentions. Kim's son, Kim Jong-il, has apparently succeeded his father, but there is speculation that he is only a figurehead controlled by the North Korean generals.
Moreover, crop failures have caused severe food shortages in the North that could destabilize the regime. There is speculation that the generals might seek to create an incident to divert attention from the people's suffering - or to increase pressure on the U.S. to enter into peace talks excluding South Korea.
In any event, neither the South Koreans nor the United States can afford to lower their guard in the face of this latest incident or for that matter until it becomes clear that North Korea has abandoned its belligerent ways. Anyone wondering why the United States must maintain forces in Japan - for the most part in Okinawa - despite anti-military demonstrations can find part of the explanation in Korea.
Molokai-Maui ferry
THE Molokai-Maui ferry service was launched in 1987 at a time when Maui hotels and businesses were trying to attract employees but were stymied by a shortage of housing on the Valley Isle. The ferry was used to shuttle workers from Molokai, where jobs were more scarce than housing. The ferry had operated since under a state subsidy of $330,000 a year - until last June, when the subsidy was ended by the Cayetano administration as part of the state budget cuts.
Now the ferry company, Sea Link of Hawaii Inc., has announced service will end Oct. 1, explaining that it can't survive without the state subsidy.
The state cannot be expected to support such enterprises indefinitely. If the Maui businesses are sufficiently interested in the service, they will cover employee fare costs and find a way to enable it to survive. But it appears that Molokai will have to find other solutions to its unemployment problem - the Molokai Ranch projects, for example.
Computer information
FEDERAL agencies soon will have to revise their rules for providing public access to records to conform with a bill that has passed Congress without dissent and awaits President Clinton's expected signature. The new Electronic Freedom of Information Act will prod agencies to share their data in the medium requested. Hawaii and other states should aim to do the same.
Some FOIA guardians are concerned that the rewriting of the rules of access will cause court battles that broadened the old law to be fought again, but they are confident of victory. The new legislation is believed to have encompassed most of those victories and should provide a needed nudge to agencies to catch up with the modern world.
Published by Liberty Newspapers Limited Partnership
Rupert E. Phillips, CEO
John M. Flanagan, Editor & Publisher
David Shapiro, Managing Editor
Diane Yukihiro Chang, Senior Editor & Editorial Page Editor
Frank Bridgewater & Michael Rovner, Assistant Managing Editors
A.A. Smyser, Contributing Editor