KISSINGER QUESTIONED ON KOREA CASE DATA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• 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
• Publication Date: April 21, 1978
• Content Type: NSPR

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pproved For Release 2Q94y, :1IRDP81 M00980R000600130009-3
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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