2- I 5 553 B I 445 - I MEMORANDUM 0F CONVERSATION PARTICEPANTS Honorable Park Chung Hee President Honorabie Choi Kyu Ha Prime Hinisrer Honorabie Park Tong Jin Foreign Minister Honorable Suh Jyong Chul Minister or Nationai Defeh nee f General Re Use Hyun Chairman Joint Chiefs or Cha Ji Chul Chiet or Security - Kim Chung Yum Secretary- Generai Honorabie Kim Yong Shrk Ambassador to the United States Honorable Haroid Brown Secretary of Derense Honorable Richard L Sneider Ambassador to the Repubiic CI Korea - General seofg s Brown Chairman Joints ChieIs of Staff Honorab ie David E HcGierrt Assistant Secretary of Defense internationa i Security AffaIrs General John w USA commander US Forces Korea Ir Wi iliam Gieysteen Jr Deputy Assistant Secretary of Sta_t - TIME 5 PLACE Biue House 25 1977 -I-IIGO -Private Session Between Pr sident Park- and Se oretary Drown SECURITY The Secretary said that President Carter had asked him to reiterate our security commitment and to bring a iett er which he handed to President Park HEADQUARTERS AND TWO BRIGADES The Secretary informed Park of President Carteris decision to leave the division headquarters and two brigades until withdrawal of the final Increment This would mean 6 000 men were to be drawn- down by December i 1978 an additional 9 000 by June l980 and the final group in l98l-i982 i with the timing of the last increment to be determined depending on iater decisions President Park expressed his pleasure at the decision but questioned whet her we could keep the bulk of the 2nd Division in Korea after the earlier withdrawal of troops The Secretary reassured him that even after these is 000 spaces were withdrawn over 1 2 of the 2nd Division Torces would be able to remain President Park asked General Vessey if he could cope with the resuits of such withdrawal i General Vessey indicated he would have to look at it and see what sort 'gw-ffn o un- of structure could function President Park suggested that KATUSAS might be used to fill out the division structure An alternative would be to attach a Korean unit to fill out the remaining two US brigades - THE COMMAND The Secretary said that we thought it essential to establish the Combined Command before the first withd awai was completed He said that our staffs must refine the terms of reference and work out other details for example what forces should be assigned to the Command in peacetime versus wartime He mentioned that the Combined Command should participate in our military exercises The Secretary said he wished to be very clear about our determina- tion to leave the ROK in a strong security posture as we withdrew our ground-combat forces in this light we were considering additional security assistance which would have tO'take account of both ROK and US needs as well as problems of phasing training and maintenance capability Additional assistance would also require Congressional approval On the basis of discussions so far it was clear we would have to undertake a program of careful educational efforts and maintain some flexibility as to the timing of our re quests to the Congress The Secretary described three parts to the assistance program we had in mind First we would continue r-egular FMS credit sales at about the $275 million level requested this y ear at least through FY 198l S econd we would tranSfer to the ROK at no cost appropriate items of Eighth Army equipment including two improved Hawk Battalions an Honest John Battalion 90 UH- -l helicopters 126 field artillery and two battalions of engineer equipment We would approach the Congress for legislation with some flexibility to permit this transfer Third we would request additional FMS credit financing over and above the already planned levels to help take account of our ground force with- drawals The Secretary eXplained that he had in mind roughly $500' million in free transfer cf equipment $300 million in addition FMS which together with four years of already planned FMS would bring its _total of the planned program to approximately Si 9 billion We would probably have to adjust this pregram in light of Korean reactions and the situation in Congress The Secretary was not eertain if it would be better to seek legislation this year next year or in both years COHPENSATDRY MEASURES President Park pointed out that peace in Korea was kept by the prer sence of US forces and that any withdrawal would necessarily change the delicate military balance Thus such a withdrawal should be accompanied by compensatory measures and these should precede or at least parallel the actual withdrawal They should be l00z complete before the third ahd final withdrawal took place President Park asserted that in May General Brown and Mr Habib had agreed to this It was most important for all to perceive that the withdrawal had not in fact changed the military balance He also stressed the essentiality in his mind of identifying actual items and quantities of equipment for transfer to the ROK rather than dollar amounts If we could agnee on the equipment requirements the_RDK would want to obtain as much as pOSSlbIe by free transfer from Eighth Army assets credit purchases or by cash _purchases in that order The Secretary responded that he accepted the principle that our compensatory measures should proceed in paraliei with our withdrawals but said he-couid not assuce the President that they could all be completed before the withdrawals For example our forces remaining in Korea would need to use their equipment while they were still there and there would also have to be a period of time-for training of ROK forces We would nevertheless dolour best to phase the- process with our withdrawal pattern AUGHENTING TACTICAL AIR IN ROK The Secretary informed President Park that we believed the remaining combined presence of US and ROK forces would be adequate but that in recognition of his concern for deterrence we would increase the number of our tactical aircraft in Korea from 60 to 72 The l2 additional aircraft will be brought in from outside the_Western'Pacific INCREASED The Secretary said we would increase the length fnequency and size of our military exercises as well as the number of temporary deployments I to Korea He mentioned that we would be assigning AWACS to Kadena and I this would be available for cove age of the Korean peninsula - ARMS TRANSFER PotIcv The Secretary commented that our policy would allow us to accommodate the ROK's need on a case- by-case basis We were prepared to support ROK needs for various kinds of advanced weaponry and would be prepared to include a reference to this in the Joint Communique following the SCH - Among those weapons which we are prepared to consider areuthe F-l6 available in l98l 82 but the ROK may still Wish to examine alternatives In any event we would be prepared to release technical data on the F-25 Other weapons which we are prepared in principle to provide are Improved Chaparral and coproduction of the Vulcan gun The Secretary noted how- ever that we had not approved coproduction of the lb or Improved Chaparral He stated that we are also prepared to consider providing_ 3 -aeeprs- BY It aircraft but cautioned the ROK to keep in mind that there might be other For this requirement ASSISTANCE TO DEFENSE INDUSTRIES The Secretary stated we were prepared to be neipfoi within the cone text of our arms transfer poiicy We wish to heip the ROK in the areas_ of and ammunition-manufacturing President Park conciuded his-comments with a request that Secretary Brown urge President Carter and the US Government to support the sustained etonomic development He was concerned that there might be further restrictions on Korean exports and these wouid affect Korea s ability to maintain its economic-development and take on additionai burden of force improvement caused by our force withdrawais He said he_was not asking for additionai economic assistance oniy that the US impose no Further restrictions encourage investment _and continue economic cooperation The Secretary agreed to speak to President Carter noting however that we do not have in mind further restrictions and foiiy recognize the importance of Korea's economic deveiopment i Director East Asia and Pacific Assistant Secretargidiibeiense Region - 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