KISSINGER QUESTIONED ON KOREA CASE DATA

Document Type: 
Collection: 
Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 
CIA-RDP81M00980R000600130009-3
Release Decision: 
RIFPUB
Original Classification: 
K
Document Page Count: 
1
Document Creation Date: 
December 15, 2016
Document Release Date: 
May 18, 2004
Sequence Number: 
9
Case Number: 
Publication Date: 
April 21, 1978
Content Type: 
NSPR
File: 
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PDF icon CIA-RDP81M00980R000600130009-3.pdf91.97 KB
Body: 
ARTIC;Z, I r1P~~~- - Q _'GE BALTIMORE SUPT pproved For Release 2Q94y, :1IRDP81 M00980R000600130009-3 e n lioreacam d ta By LYNNE OLSON Washington Bureau of 71e Sun Washington--Henry A. Kissinger testi- fied yesterday he had no knowledge of a South Korean bribery scheme on Capitol Hill until 1975, although he said he had been aware of a Korean lobbying effort for several years before that. The former secretary of state told the House international organizations sub- committee that he and then-President Gerald R. Ford, after receiving "defini- tive" reports of illegal Korean activities in 1975, turned the information over to the Justice Department. At that point, he said, the first formal investigation into the af- fair was begun. .The subcommittee requested Mr. Kis- singer's testimony as part of its effort to determine whether senior officials in the Nixon administration knew about illegal Korean. activities in the early 1970's, but did nothing about them. In response to questioning, Mr. Kissin- ger insisted he never saw two of three top- secret FBI warnings about alleged South Korean influence-buying in Congress, sent to him and John N. Mitchell, then attorney general, in 1971 and 1972. " _ - The intelligence reports stated that a Korean businessman, Tongsun Park, had paid off a congressman; that Korea had contributed several hundred thousand dol- lars to the Democratic party and that two congressional staffers were linked to the Korean Central Intelligence Agency. Mr. Kissinger, who was national securi- ty adviser to President Richard M. Ni on in 1971 and 1972, said he recalled see Mg only one report, which referred to the "al- leged bribery of a congressman who was later indicted." He did nothing about the report, he said, because "it was in the attorney gen- eral's domain and did not involve me." Mr. Mitchell previously has testified that he, too, saw only one of the intelligence memos. "My consciousness of Korean activities until 1975 was of lobbying, not bribery," Mr. Kissinger testified. Mr. Kissinger was questioned closely by Representative Donald M. Fraser (D., Minn.), the subcommittee chairman, on why he had not seen all three FBI memos addressed to him, since all were marked "Top Secret, Eyes Only." Mr. Kissinger, who remained cool and' self-confident, replied that such memos were screened routinely by his top aides and were not shown to him unless they were considered "top priority." In that period, South Korea was not a top-priority country for him, he added, since he was concerned primarily with Vietnam, Western Europe, the Soviet Union and China. Mr. Kissinger added that, if he had seen the report about Korea's alleged contribu- to the Democratic party, 'it was "in- tion conceivable" that he could have forgotten, "I was certainly aware," he added, that the Korean government was lobbying Con- gress and administration officials in the early 1970's to try to get a decision to:[ withdraw American troops from Korea reversed. Mr. Kissinger recalled that Melvin R. Laird, then secretary of defense, was so.! displeased with those lobbying efforts that he complained to the State Department about the Koreans. But the former secretary of state said he was not aware that large-scale bribery was involved until February, 1975. At that time, he said, he was told by I Philip C. Habib, then assistant secretary of state, about "sensitive intelligence re- ports which indicated there might be some attempts to lobby or bribe congressmen." - bir. Kissinger testified that-he relayed that information to President Ford, who told him to keep watch over the situation. - "Later in the year," Mr. Kissinger said, "we received some information which was much more definitive." He said he and Mr. Ford then turned all the, information over to the Justice De- partment for investigation, despite objec- tions fron) United States intelligence offi- cials who were afraid of losing sensitive sources. Approved For Release 2004/05/21 : CIA-RDP81 M00980R000600130009-3