TONGSUN PARK'S CONTACTS WITH U.S. INTELLIGENCE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP81M00980R000600080033-2
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 24, 2004
• Sequence Number: 33
• Publication Date: January 1, 1978
• Content Type: NSPR

WASHINGTON STAR DATE
TONGSUN PARK'S CONTACTS WITH U: S. INTELLIGENCE
By Ron Sarro C*Rtkmnd From A-i But the committee reportehat
Washington Star Staff Writer
Washington society figure Tongsun
Park had a longtime relationship
with U.S. intelligence officers, who
over 12 years used him to obtain
information and at least considered
him for more exotic duties, accord-
ing to the Senate Intelligence Com-
mittee.
The committee concluded that the
contacts with Park between 1959 and
1971 were "limited," that intelligence
agencies say he has never been con-
_.dered "an asset," and that from
what it could learn, Park had no
"formal relationship" with any spy
agency.
But in a report on what U.S. intelli-
gence and other officials knew of
South Korean influence-buying in
Washington, the committee yester-
day provided the first indication of
how Park's life was intertwined in
Washington with contacts with U.S.
intelligence agents.
The bulk of the 50-page report de-
tails much of the information already
publicly disclosed by the House for-
eign operations subcommittee,
headed by Rep. Donald Fraser, D.
Minn., on the extent of U.S. officials'
knowledge of the efforts of Park and
the South Korean KCIA to buy influ-
ence in Congress.
THE SENATE COMMITTEE con-
cluded that various U.S. agencies
knew of KCIA activities . aimed at
Congress as early as 1970 and ' of
Park's activities as early as 1971, in-
See PARK, A-6
eluding his use of the George Town two years after the 1967 contact, it
Club "as a front to channel campaign disvered, Park had dinner with
funds to congressmen." threeo intelligence officers from the
It said that information mostly de- same agency, either at his home or
veloped by intelligence agencies, and at the George Town Club.
Th
"
e report said
an intelligence
also the State Department and Jus_
tice Department, was not acted on in officer who had just retired did in
magnitude of the activities in-
volved," but that it could not prove
- 1
.. .. _
of
cover-up" or closet, support for the
Korean activities,
The report's discussion of contacts
between intelligence officials and
ro th
ug
e
Korean CIA about 1969, provided a
hew view of the activities of the mil-
lionaire rice merchant-influence
buyer who became a male Perle
Mesta in Washington society.
The report gave the following
examples of what the committee
called Park's "limited contacts"
vane dinner gathering which was at-
tended by two other intelligence offi-
cials.
"It was Park's recollection that
the dinner was arranged by an intel-
ligence officer who had been asked
`to look me up,' " the committee
said. "The committee has been un-
able to ascertain why the dinner was
arranged, and there are no records
on the subject in intelligence agency
files," the report said.
? In 1968, the report said, "Addi-
tional interest in Park was expressed
by another intelligence agency which
. was apparently considering re-
cruiting Park as a `spotter assessor'
to be used to recruit and assess possi-
ble sources
f f
i
o
ore
gn intelligence
years thereafter, U.S. intelligence information, but there is no evidence
officers met with Park on occasion to that Park was actually used in that
obtain information and/or to assess capacity."
him as a prospective asset." The lat- - ? During 1970-71, the report said,
ter term translates here as possible "Park apparently had numerous con-
onerative_
in 1962 in Park's heading a New York
"placement service" for South Ko-
reans educated in this country and
seeking "employment" back home,
although the organization was never
created. However, the report said,
Park did help negotiate a $1,500 grant
to a South Korean placement organ-
ization in 1961. The grant was made
by the Asia Foundation, a CIA front
from 1951 to 1967, but Park told the
committee that at the time he was
unaware of its CIA connection.
? In 1967 "overseas" U.S. intelli-
gence officers reported to Washing-
ton that Park "was thoroughly 'wor-
thy of cultivation' and Park himself
was apparently told that a headquar-
ters official would be calling on him
and might want to see him occasion-
ally," the report said.
INTELLIGENCE OFFICIALS
were interested in Park because of
'his "close relations with key Korean
officials," but again, said the com-
mittee, "there is no indication in
intelligence files that this proposal
was ever acted upon." It did not ex-
plore the possibility the files were
incomplete or the operation covert.
Seoul, _although theirs recollections
differ as to the substance of ' their
relationship.
"PARK CONSIDERED the station
chief to have been a close personal
friend and he claimed that they ex-
changed considerable substantive
information about Korean politics
and political figures," the report
said. During this period, U.S. offi-
cials have said, Park was an agent of
the South Korean Central Intelli.
gence Agency.
"The station chief recalls their
meetings to have been of a purely so-
cial nature rather than substantive,"
the committee said. "There are no
records in intelligence files reflecting
what transpired between them. Park
recalls receiving a case of liquor
from the station chief on at least one
occasion."
The committee also reported that
intelligence files show that at one
time intelligence officers considered
using Park s George Town Club as
"an operational base," but decided
Approved For Release 2004/07/08 : CIA-RDP81 M00980R000600080033-2
? "Beginning in 1959 and for several
 Sen. Adlal Stevenson, D-I11 tells reporters he could not
definitely rule out the possibility of a cover-up in the Ko-
rear Influence buying scandal. Earlier the Senate Intel-
-Associated Press
ligence subcommittee which he heads reported that
high U.S. officials Ignored warnings that the Koreans
were trying to buy influence in Congress.
against it, and that two intelligence
officers had business relationships
with Park, although there was "no
evidence" Park knew of their agency
connection.
"In his testimony before the Sen-
ate Ethics Committee," the intelli-
gence committee reported, "Park
readily admitted to knowing several
former intelligence officials, but the
committee has discovered no evi-
dence that any of those relationships
affected the handling of the Korea
case."
THE COMMITTEE ALSO reported
it discovered no evidence that Park's
relationship with executiVe branch
officials who were then in positions to
help him affected the flow of infor-
mation about his influence-buying ac-
tivities or caused the failure of U.S.
agencies to halt the activities of Park
or the KCIA.
In reporting this conclusion, the
committee said that Park socially
had 'met Secretary of State Henry
Kissinger, former Attorney General
John Mitchell, former Attorney
General William Saxbe, former CIA
Director Richard Helms and former
Defense Secretary Melvin Laird.
He had lunch ' with the late FBI
Director J. Edgar Hoover in the of-
fice of the late Rep. John J. Rooney,
visited Laird's office at least once,
and knew former Attorney General
Richard Kleindienst and visited his
office at least twice, all after intelli-
gence agencies knew of his influence-
buying activities.
The committee said the visits to
Kleindienst came after March 1972,
when he "closed down" for "lack of
evidence" a Justice Department
investigation into alleged illegal for-
eign lobbying by Park and Radio
Free Asia.
THE COMMITTEE NOTED that
after he left the Justiice Department,
Kleindienst "occupied space in
Park's office building on a rent-free
basis for two months" and got a
$4,000 retainer during the period for
acting as Park's lawyer.
"There is no evidence that these
relationships had been planned or
discussed until after Mr. Kleindienst
authorized the closing of the Park/
ROFA investigation,", the committee
said.
"Mr. Kleindienst has told the com-
mittee that his relationship" with
Park in 1971 was not such as required
him to disqualify himself from the
case and we have discovered no evi-
dence to the contrary," the report
said.
The report shed no new light on
three intelligence reports forwarded
on 'a "top secret" basis in 1971 to
Mitchell and Kissinger, then special
assistant to the president for national
security affairs, about Park's lobby-
ing efforts, cash payments to one
congressmen and KCIA activities.
THE REPORT SAID Kissinger
does not recall seeing any of the re-
ports and Mitchell remembers one
which mentioned congressional staff
connections with the KCIA, which he
said he brought to the attention of
former House Speaker Carl'Albert.