Salt Lake Telegram | 1951-12-15 | Page 4 | South Korean Army

South Korean Army General James A. A Van Fleet who was responsible for rebuilding the Greek army and thus enabling it finally to get the upper hand over the Communists there hopes to do a similar job in Korea He was quoted the other day as assaying assaying assaying saying he was under orders to build up the South Korean army until it can stand standon on its own two feet feel The training program embraces all branches of military service including artillery engineering signal corps etc Officer candidates are being trained in inthis inthis inthis this country and a command and general staff school has been set up in Korea This is good and important news Armistice or no armistice the only real hope for stabilization of the Korean situation and getting this country out of Korea is building South Korean armed strength to the point where it will be beable beable beable able to stand off any Communist attack short of perhaps an out all-out war involving Soviet Russia which would undoubtedly mean a world wide conflict Much has already been accomplished in the direction of building South Korean armed strength The Korean divisions which are now interspersed with American American American Amer Amer- ican and other United Nations troops in inthe inthe inthe the line have been giving a very good account of themselves lately A number of other new divisions have been in training and should soon be ready to go into action General Van Fleet did not reveal how large a force would be trained but it undoubtedly would be at least as large as the present combined U. Korean-U. N. N force which our military leaders say is capable of holding off the Communists almost indefinitely When that goal is reached armistice or no armistice it should be possible to withdraw most of the American troops now in Korea And while we must agree the Korean venture was necessary and worth while such withdrawal cannot come too soon for us