Spooking Capitol Hill

Spread out amid landscaped lawns, pine trees and poplars on the eastern fringes of Seoul, the headquarters of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency looks more like a tranquil U.S. campus than the nerve center of what is perhaps the most overzealous, if not the most heavyhanded, secret service in the Orient. As revelations of KCIA conspiracies in the U.S. continued to unfold, what had begun as a case of relatively petty influence peddling in Washington was fast developing into a major political and diplomatic scandal.

The key figure in the affair is Tongsun Park, 41, a Washington-based South Korean entrepreneur with reputed links to the KCIA, who has admitted giving gifts of as much as $10,000 to some Congressmen (TIME, Nov. 8). According to recent disclosures, however, KCIA spooks have been masterminding a much broader operation designed to win special commercial and political advantages for South Korea.

Any lingering doubts about the extent of the null congressional corruption have been dispelled by the reaction on Capitol Hill to three separate investigations by federal agencies. Several Congressmen have vigorously tried to head off probes into South Korean activities by the departments of State, Agriculture and Justice. An official from one of the investigating agencies told TIME that an influential legislator who was believed to have received payoffs felt so secure "he just laughed at our investigators." Thus far, about 20 Congressmen are suspected of having accepted from South Korean agents as much as $500,000 a year in cash, gifts and campaign contributions.

Part of the huge sums used to finance KCIA operations have been obtained from about $5 million a year in commissions believed to have been paid to Tongsun Park by U.S. suppliers of rice to South Korea. Such payments are illegal under the federally subsidized "Food for Peace" program and are being investigated by the Agriculture Department. The KCIA has also coerced Korean businessmen into cooperating in a scheme to cheat the U.S. military procurement agency in South Korea. Bids by Korean contractors have been routinely rigged at meetings that were called "tangos." At these conclaves, the chosen bidder paid a "tango fee," which was channeled to the KCIA. Said Democratic Senator William Proxmire of Wisconsin: "Collusive bidding practices, backed with strong-arm enforcement by Korean contractors is costing American taxpayers $15 to $25 million annually."

Illegal Bullying. The Department of State is investigating reports that the KCIA, which terrorizes dissidents in South Korea, has been using the same tactics in the U.S. Some 25 South Korean secret-police agents, backed by a network of enforcers, have infiltrated the large South Korean communities in Los Angeles and other cities in search of critics of the regime of South Korean President Park Chung Hee. Exiled journalists have been threatened with assassination and with reprisals against relatives in South Korea. Other dissidents have been beaten. This illegal bullying by the KCIA is proving hard to halt because the presence of foreign intelligence services is often sanctioned by the CIA.

Still, the Justice Department is expected to bring Congressmen and other officials before a federal grand jury, which could vote indictments if the case is strong enough. The most devastating witness against the bribetakers may turn out to be the chief bribegiver himself. Tongsun Park. Completing a trip to Tokyo, Paris and London, Park is expected to return soon to Washington, where, he has declared, he will cooperate fully with federal investigators.

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