SOUTH KOREA FATIGUES TO FLANNELS SEOUL WAS DECKED IN ALL ITS FESTIVE 
FINERY LAST WEEK AS SOUTH KOREA OBSERVED THE END OF TWO 
YEARS, SEVEN MONTHS AND ONE DAY OF MILITARY DICTATORSHIP . BUSES 
WERE GARLANDED WITH WREATHS AND NEWLY MADE FLAGS DECORATED STOREFRONTS AND 
STREETCARS . THE MIDNIGHT CURFEW WAS LIFTED FOR THE DAY, AND 
5,000 PRISON INMATES WERE RELEASED ON AMNESTY . IN A BONE-CHILLING 
DRIZZLE BEFORE THE NATIONAL CAPITOL BUILDING, 15,000 SHIVERING SPECTATORS WATCHED FORMER 
MILITARY STRONGMAN GENERAL PARK CHUNG HEE, 46, TAKE THE OATH OF 
OFFICE AS SOUTH KOREA'S FIFTH CIVILIAN PRESIDENT . PROMISING NEVER " 
TO PERMIT THE RESURGENCE OF DICTATORSHIP UNDER ANY DISGUISE OR PRETEXT, 
" PARK SAID :. " THE BRIGHT MORNING OF THE NEW 
REPUBLIC HAS DAWNED . LET US PUT DEPRESSION, MELANCHOLY, CONFUSION AND 
PESSIMISM BEHIND US AND CREATE A NEW HISTORY OF OPTIMISM AND 
DETERMINATION . " DESPITE PARK'S RINGING WORDS, THE ONLY REAL CHANGE 
IN SOUTH KOREA'S GOVERNMENT IS FROM MILITARY FATIGUES TO CIVILIAN FLANNELS 
. UNDER THE NEW CONSTITUTION, THE PRESIDENT HAS ALMOST DICTATORIAL POWERS, 
AND THOUGH PARK'S DEMOCRATIC-REPUBLICAN PARTY GARNERED ONLY 34 PER CENT OF 
THE VOTE IN THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY ELECTIONS, THE OPPOSITION WAS SO 
SPLIT THAT THE D.R.P . HAS A WHOPPING, 45-SEAT PARLIAMENTARY PLURALITY 
. THOUGH PARK PLEADED FOR NATIONAL UNITY, OPPOSITION LEADER YUN PO 
SUN, WHO BARELY LOST THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION, BOYCOTTED THE ASSEMBLY'S OPENING 
SESSION, AND OTHER DISSIDENT ASSEMBLYMEN THREATENED TO INVESTIGATE THE CORRUPTION PREVALENT 
UNDER PARK'S MILITARY JUNTA . FAR MORE MENACING TO PARK IS 
SOUTH KOREA'S CHAOTIC ECONOMY . IN THE PAST YEAR, RETAIL PRICES 
HAVE CLIMBED 40 PERCENT, AND SOME 10 PER CENT OF THE 
LABOR FORCE IS UNEMPLOYED . FOREIGN EXCHANGE RESERVES HAVE PLUMMETED TO 
$105 MILLION . DESPERATE FOR A NEW DOLLOP OF U.S . 
ECONOMIC AID, PARK INVITED A U.S . CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION TO HIS 
INNAUGURATION . BUT THE U.S . HAS SLASHED NEXT YEAR'S TOTAL 
AID COMMITMENT BY $54 MILLION TO $236 MILLION, HOPES TO PRESSURE 
PARK INTO STABILIZING THE ECONOMY . A CONTINUING DICTATORSHIP IN SOUTH 
KOREA IS NOT VERY PALATABLE TO THE U.S . BUT WITH 
HIS DICTATORIAL POWERS, PARK CAN AT LEAST PROMISE A DEGREE OF 
POLITICAL STABILITY . 