NEWS BRIEFS

A South Korean diplomat and a representative of Harvard's Yenching Institute both said at a Lamont Forum speech yesterday they hoped South Korea's December elections will bring political reform.

Consul-General Ahn Jong-Koo of Boston's South Korean Consulate and Edward Baker, the associate director of the Harvard Yenching Institute, said they both hoped that the election of Kim Young Sam, South Korea's first democratically elected civilian president in 42 years, would usher in a period of reform.

Ahn told an audience of about 20 that newly elected president Young Sam Kim a member of the Democratic Liberal Party--is faced with such problems as his people's distrust of the government and "loss of moral compass," and the country's economic problems and breakdown of authority.

"President Kim has diagnosed these problems, which he now wants to cure," Ahn said. "Personally, I have always been optimistic about Korea."

Ahn also cited a poll showing that more than 82 percent of people shared his optimism with regard to the possibility of reforms to be pursued by Kim.

Baker, however, was more ambivalent.

"There is no question at all that the situation has improved greatly, but democracy is, so far, not systematically guaranteed at all," Baker said.

"There are still 900 political prisoners in Korea." Baker also cited the continued use of the National Security Law "to incriminate domestic critics of the government," the Yenching Institute official said.