Subcommittee on International Organizations of the Committee on International Relations

Last updated

The Subcommittee on International Organizations of the Committee on International Relations (also known as the Fraser Committee) was a committee of the U.S. House of Representatives which met in 1976 and 1977 and conducted an investigation into the "Koreagate" scandal. [1] It was chaired by Representative Donald M. Fraser of Minnesota. The committee's 447-page report, made public on November 29, 1977, reported on plans by the National Intelligence Service (South Korea) (KCIA) to manipulate American institutions to the advantage of South Korean government policies, overtly and covertly. [2]

Contents

Hearings

The committee conducted an extensive investigation into South Korea–United States relations, and held a series of hearings. The committee's hearings were highly publicized, and the term "Koreagate" began to be used by American news media outlets at the time. [3]

During these hearings, former KCIA director Kim Hyong-uk testified that he had offered favors to Pak Tong-sun in exchange for the latter's efforts to lobby in Washington, D.C. [4] Kim also testified that a month before the hearings, South Korean president Park Chung Hee had attempted to dissuade him from testifying, and had ordered his kidnapping or assassination if he proceeded to testify. [5]

Various members of the Unification Church of the United States testified that churchmembers had been involved in attempts to lobby congress. [6] Dan Fefferman, a leader in the Unification Church of the United States, refused to cooperate fully during the hearings. [7]

Fraser Report

The committee made its findings public in what became known as the "Fraser report". The committee's report that there were South Korean plans to plant an intelligence network in the White House and to influence the United States Congress, newsmedia, clergy, and educators. [8] [9] The report found that Korean businessman Tongsun Park had begun lobbying for in 1970, immediately after Nixon withdrew the U.S. Seventh Army division from South Korea. [1]

The committee found that the KCIA was working with Sun Myung Moon, founder of the Unification Church of the United States, and that some church members worked as volunteers in congressional offices. [10] Together they founded the Korean Culture and Freedom Foundation, a nonprofit organization which undertook a public diplomacy campaign for the Republic of Korea. [11] The committee also investigated possible KCIA influence on the Unification movement's campaign in support of Richard Nixon during the Watergate scandal. [12]

The report of the committee also found that the KCIA planned to grant money to American universities in order to attempt to influence them for political purposes. [13] It also said that the KCIA had harassed and intimidated Korean people living in the United States if they protested against Republic of Korea government policies. [14]

Aftermath

In response to the investigation, the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct filed and heard charges against members of the United States House of Representatives. Congressman Richard T. Hanna was convicted of conspiracy to defraud the United States Government, and was sentenced to serve between 6 and 30 months in prison. [15]

The ethics committee censured Edward R. Roybal for failing to report that he had received a $1,000 gift from Park. [16] Two other congressmen, Charles H. Wilson and John J. McFall were reprimanded. A fourth congressman, Edward J. Patten, was found not guilty. [17] The committee investigated claims that Edward Derwinski had leaked confidential information to South Korean officials, but the inquiry ended inconclusively. [18]

Kim Hyong-uk disappeared in October 1979, and was reportedly assassinated on the orders of Kim Jae-kyu, then-director of the KCIA. [19]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sun Myung Moon</span> Korean religious leader (1920–2012)

Sun Myung Moon was a Korean religious leader, also known for his business ventures and support for conservative political causes. A messiah claimant, he was the founder of the Unification Church, whose members consider him and his wife Hak Ja Han to be their "True Parents", and of its widely noted "Blessing" or mass wedding ceremonies. The author of the Unification Church's religious scripture, the Divine Principle, he was an anti-communist and an advocate for Korean reunification, for which he was recognized by the governments of both North and South Korea. Businesses he promoted included News World Communications, an international news media corporation known for its American subsidiary The Washington Times, and Tongil Group, a South Korean business group (chaebol), as well as other related organizations.

Bo Hi Pak was a prominent member of the Unification Church. During the 1970s and 1980s, he was a major leader in the church movement, leading projects such as newspapers, schools, performing arts projects, political projects such as the anti-communist organization CAUSA International, and was president of the Unification Church International 1977–1991. He was also the president of Little Angels Children's Folk Ballet of Korea.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kim Jae-gyu</span> Assassin of Park Chung-hee (1926–1980)

Kim Jae-gyu was a South Korean politician, army lieutenant general and the director of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency. He assassinated South Korean President Park Chung Hee—who had been one of his closest friends—on October 26, 1979, and was subsequently executed by hanging on May 24, 1980.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Unification Church</span> International new religious movement

The Unification Church (Korean: 통일교) is a new religious movement derived from Christianity, whose members are called Unificationists or sometimes informally Moonies. Sun Myung Moon (1920–2012) began gaining followers after the Second World War. On 1 May 1954 in Seoul, South Korea, Moon formally founded the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity (HSA-UWC), the Unification Church's full name, until 1994, when it was officially changed to the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification. It has a presence in approximately 100 countries around the world. Its leaders are Moon and his wife, Hak Ja Han, whom their followers honor with the title "True Parents".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kim Hyong-jik</span> Father of Kim Il Sung (1894–1926)

Kim Hyong Jik was a Korean independence activist during Japanese rule. He was the father of the North Korean founder Kim Il Sung, the paternal grandfather of Kim Jong Il, and a great-grandfather of the current leader of North Korea, Kim Jong Un.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Intelligence Service (South Korea)</span> Intelligence agency of South Korea

The National Intelligence Service is the chief intelligence agency of South Korea. The agency was officially established in 1961 as the Korean Central Intelligence Agency, during the rule of general Park Chung Hee’s military Supreme Council for National Reconstruction, which displaced the Second Republic of Korea. The original duties of the KCIA were to supervise and coordinate both international and domestic intelligence activities and criminal investigations by all government intelligence agencies, including that of the military. The agency’s broad powers allowed it to actively intervene in politics. Agents undergo years of training and checks before they are officially inducted and receive their first assignments.

A cult is a group which is typically led by a charismatic and self-appointed leader who tightly controls its members, requiring unwavering devotion to a set of beliefs and practices which are considered deviant outside the norms of society. It is in some contexts a pejorative term, also used for new religious movements and other social groups which are defined by their unusual religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals, or their common interest in a particular person, object, or goal. This sense of the term is weakly defined – having divergent definitions both in popular culture and academia – and has also been an ongoing source of contention among scholars across several fields of study.

Tongsun Park is a former South Korean lobbyist. He was involved in two political money-related scandals: Koreagate scandal in the 1970s, and the Oil-for-Food Program scandal of the 2000s. Park had a reputation as the "Asian Great Gatsby".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fourth Republic of Korea</span> Government of South Korea from 1972–1981

The Fourth Republic of Korea was the government of South Korea from November 1972 to March 1981.

"Koreagate" was an American political scandal in 1976 involving South Korean political figures seeking influence from 10 Democratic members of Congress. The scandal involved the uncovering of evidence that the Korea Central Intelligence Agency (KCIA) was allegedly funneling bribes and favors through South Korean businessman Tongsun Park in an attempt to gain favor and influence in American politics. Reversing Presidential candidate Jimmy Carter's pledge to withdraw American military forces from South Korea is thought to have been one of their primary objectives.

<i>Gifts of Deceit</i> 1980 book by Robert Boettcher

Gifts of Deceit: Sun Myung Moon, Tongsun Park, and the Korean Scandal is a 1980 non-fiction book on Koreagate and the Fraser Committee, a congressional subcommittee which investigated South Korean influence in the United States by the KCIA and the Unification movement, written by Robert Boettcher, with Gordon L. Freedman. Freedman had served on the U.S. Senate Watergate Committee staff and had been a producer for ABC News 20/20 prior to his service on the subcommittee.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Assassination of Park Chung Hee</span> 1979 murder in Seoul, South Korea

Park Chung Hee, the third President of South Korea, was assassinated on October 26, 1979, during a dinner at the Korean Central Intelligence Agency (KCIA) safe house near the Blue House presidential compound in Jongno District, Seoul, South Korea. It was the first assassination of a head of state in South Korea and in Korea in 605 years, since the assassination of Gongmin of Goryeo. Kim Jae-gyu, the director of the KCIA and the president's security chief, was responsible for the assassination. Park was shot in the chest and the head, and died almost immediately. Four bodyguards and a presidential chauffeur were also killed. The incident is often referred to as "10.26" or the "10.26 incident" in South Korea.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Unification Church of the United States</span> Religious movement in the United States

The Unification Church of the United States is the branch of the Unification Church in the United States. It began in the late 1950s and early 1960s when missionaries from South Korea were sent to America by the international Unification Church's founder and leader Sun Myung Moon. It expanded in the 1970s and then became involved in controversy due to its theology, its political activism, and the lifestyle of its members. Since then, it has been involved in many areas of American society and has established businesses, news media, projects in education and the arts, as well as taking part in political and social activism, and has itself gone through substantial changes.

Daniel G. Fefferman is a church leader and activist for the freedom of religion. He is a member of the Unification Church of the United States, a branch of the international Unification Church, founded by Sun Myung Moon in South Korea in 1954.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chun Doo-hwan</span> President of South Korea from 1980 to 1988

Chun Doo-hwan was a South Korean politician, army general and military dictator who served as the fifth president of South Korea from 1980 to 1988.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kim Hyong-uk</span> South Korean politician (1925–1979)

Kim Hyong-uk was a South Korean brigadier general who served as director of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency from 1963 to 1969.

<i>The Man Standing Next</i> 2020 South Korean political drama film

The Man Standing Next is a 2020 South Korean historical political thriller film directed by Woo Min-ho. Based on an original novel of the same title, the film stars Lee Byung-hun, Lee Sung-min, Kwak Do-won, and Lee Hee-joon as the high-ranking officials of the Korean government and the Korean Central Intelligence Agency (KCIA) during the presidency of Park Chung Hee 40 days before his assassination in 1979.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Radio of Free Asia</span> Anti-Communist radio broadcaster

Radio of Free Asia, sometimes called Radio Free Asia, was an anti-Communist radio station created by the Korean Cultural and Freedom Foundation which broadcast from Seoul into North Korea, China, and Vietnam. In a congressional hearing, General Coulter, then President of the Korean Cultural and Freedom Foundation, declared Radio of Free Asia the principal project of the foundation. It operated from 1966 to early 1970s.

Gordon Freedman is an American educator, producer, writer and investigator. He is currently the president of the National Laboratory for Education Transformation.

References

  1. 1 2 Kim, Byung-Kook; Vogel, Ezra F. (2013-03-11). The Park Chung Hee Era: The Transformation of South Korea. Harvard University Press. p. 474. ISBN   978-0-674-26509-7.
  2. House Unit Discloses Korean Plan To Manipulate U.S. Organizations; House Unit Discloses South Korea Plan to Manipulate U.S. Organizations, ’’New York Times’’, November 30, 1977
  3. Bankston, Carl Leon (2009). Great Events from History: 1972-1998. Salem Press. p. 481. ISBN   978-1-58765-470-1.
  4. Kim, Byung-Kook; Vogel, Ezra F. (2013-03-11). The Park Chung Hee Era: The Transformation of South Korea. Harvard University Press. p. 475. ISBN   978-0-674-26509-7.
  5. Halloran, Richard (1977-07-03). "EX‐KOREA AIDE SAYS PARK ENVOY TOLD HIM HE SHOULD BE SILENT". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2022-01-05.
  6. Wilson, Bryan R. (1981). The Social Impact of New Religious Movements. Unification Theological Seminary. p. 211. ISBN   978-0-932894-09-0.
  7. Association, British Sociological; Conference, British Sociological Association Sociology of Religion Study Group (1983). Of Gods and Men: New Religious Movements in the West : Proceedings of the 1981 Annual Conference of the British Sociological Association, Sociology of Religion Study Group. Mercer University Press. p. 181. ISBN   978-0-86554-095-8.
  8. Intelligence Net Bared in Probe, Associated Press, Spokane Daily Chronicle , November 29, 1977
  9. New York Times, 1977-11-30
  10. McFadden, Robert D. (2019-06-03). "Donald M. Fraser, Lawmaker Who Bared a South Korea Plot, Dies at 95". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2022-01-05.
  11. Diamond, Sara (1989). Spiritual Warfare: The Politics of the Christian Right. South End Press. p. 59. ISBN   978-0-89608-361-5.
  12. Ex-aide of Moon Faces Citation for Contempt, Associated Press, Eugene Register-Guard , August 5, 1977
  13. South Korea's Academic Lobby, Bruce Cummings, Japan Policy Research Center, University of San Francisco, May 1996, "The U.S. House investigation of Koreagate (known as the Fraser committee, after its head, Donald Fraser, a Democrat from Minnesota) got hold of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency's 1976 plan for operations in the U.S., which contained a section titled "Operations in Academic and Religious Circles." It called for spreading money around to change the attitudes of anti-ROK scholars in the U.S. The committee concluded that:'...the Korean Government attempted to use grants to influence American universities for political purposes. . . .The KCIA played a large role in these efforts.'"
  14. Third World Quarterly. Carfax Publishing Company. January 1987.
  15. Halloran, Richard (1978-04-25). "Ex‐Rep. Hanna Is Sentenced to Prison in Korean Influence‐Buying Case". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2022-01-05.
  16. Babcock, Charles R. (1978-10-14). "House Votes Reprimands for Roybal, McFall and Wilson". Washington Post. ISSN   0190-8286 . Retrieved 2022-01-05.
  17. Babcock, Charles R. (1978-10-09). "Koreagate: Bringing Forth a Mouse, But an Honest One". Washington Post. ISSN   0190-8286 . Retrieved 2022-01-05.
  18. "Derwinski Tipped S. Korea on Defector, Then Denied It". Los Angeles Times. 1989-01-12. Retrieved 2022-01-05.
  19. "Report: South Korea spy chief killed". UPI. Retrieved 2022-01-05.