O, the impregnable Koreans...
The Koreans are marching after us.
We are hiding while they attack us.
The sound, that sound of the mighty
Koreans.
—Poem attributed to a Communist soldier killed in Viet Nam.
Since they arrived in South Viet Nam seven years ago, South Korean troops have gained a reputation as the toughest and meanest of the allied forces. Off duty, they arm-wrestle and break layers of bricks with a single karate-like chop. In battle they are fierce, frightening the peasants by the zeal with which they patrol their zones of operation, which...