News stories from Saturday November 13, 1976

Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:

Improper South Korean lobbying in Washington was not significantly acted on by senior Nixon administration officials because they did not want to jeopardize Seoul's commitment of 52,000 troops to the Vietnam War, according to a former State Department official in charge of Korean affairs. He said in an interview that Nixon administration leaders did not want to embarrass an ally. [New York Times] The third-ranking official of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency, who was reportedly responsible for coordinating activities of Korean operatives in Washington, has been dismissed by President Park Chung Hee. The operatives were said to include Park Tong Sun, a businessman, and Pak Bo Hi, a major official in the Rev. Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church. [New York Times] The Defense Department is trying to work out an arrangement to relieve Jimmy Carter of the need to make a major decision on the future of the B-1 bomber program soon after he becomes President. Pentagon officials said the interim plan would allow production to proceed but in a way that would not "box in" Mr. Carter. [New York Times] Revising the federal campaign law and liberalizing its fund restrictions is a goal of many congressional activists. One group seeks to widen the subsidy concept, linked to spending limits, to cover all congressional candidates by 1978. There is little or no desire to alter the basic reforms of the new law. [New York Times] Federal aid programs were discussed by Democratic Governors of seven Northeastern states, who expect favorable policies for the region by President-elect Carter. At the conference in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., more than 100 specialists prepared proposals on welfare, transportation, energy and unemployment that will be distilled by the Governors tomorrow for what Governor Carey called "an agenda for action." [New York Times] Optimism over the prospect of future American-Vietnamese negotiations was expressed by French diplomatic sources despite an American statement that no progress was made at a Paris meeting Friday. The French cited a Vietnamese communique saying that Hanoi was willing to meet fully its obligations to account for all missing American servicemen and to find and return bodies of those killed. [New York Times] The Interstate Highway System, 20 years old tomorrow, has had a profound impact on American life. The superhighways, with 90 percent financing by the federal government, have drawn regions closer together, changed the nation's patterns of commerce, work and recreation and speeded the flow of people and businesses far outward from the central cities. About 38,000 of a projected 42,500 miles are now open at a cost so far of $62 billion. [New York Times] The only prisoner on Death Row in New York state is Joseph Davis, who was convicted last year of killing a Yonkers policeman, Harold Woods, in 1974. The 33-year-old inmate is being held under extraordinary security precautions in Green Haven prison near Poughkeepsie. He may be spared execution under a recent court ruling. In an interview made possible by a court order, he talked of his upcoming appeal and repeatedly insisted "they convicted the wrong man."The widow of the slain policeman is bitter over the ruling two weeks ago that New York's mandatory death penalty for killing policemen is unconstitutional. She called the ruling incomprehensible and said she believed that the convicted murderer should be executed. [New York Times]