Park Goes Public

Korean faces TV grilling

Ever since he returned to Washington a month ago, Tongsun Park has kept a low profile. He has been spending most days testifying in secret before the House and Senate ethics committees about his activities during the late 1960s and early '70s as South Korea's celebrated influence buyer in Washington. Because his testimony strikes dread into the hearts of many Washingtonians, most of his old acquaintances, whom he used to wine and dine so lavishly, now shun him. He lives in a rented house, his two Washington mansions seized by the IRS for unpaid taxes. Aside from the federal marshals who act as his bodyguards, his main companion is Tandy Dickinson, a blonde divorcee who in happier times played the role of hostess at his parties. They have been seen dining together at the Palm Restaurant, and were spotted standing in line for a movie.

This week Park is stepping back into the limelight. Barring a last-minute change in plans, the dapper Korean is testifying before an open session of the House ethics committee, and the entire proceedings, expected to last three days, will be televised nationwide. His testimony gives the U.S. public its first full look into the Korean bribery scandal, which began to break open a year and a half ago. Says one congressional investigator who has heard Park's testimony: "It's a very sordid picture."

Under questioning by the committee's special counsel, Leon Jaworski of Watergate fame, Park is expected to disclose the names of 31 Congressmen, who he claims took $750,000 in payoffs in return for their support of continued U.S. economic and military aid to South Korea and of his own position as an international rice broker.

The two biggest congressional recipients of Park's payoffs are already in legal trouble. Former Louisiana Democratic Representative Otto Passman, who Park claims took a grand total of $250,000 in cash, was indicted last week for bribery and conspiracy. Former California Democratic Representative Richard Hanna, who allegedly received $200,000, has already pleaded guilty to fraud charges. Other former Democratic Congressmen on the list include New Jersey's Cornelius Gallagher, who supposedly accepted about $40,000, and Louisiana's Edwin Edwards, now Governor, who has admitted to receiving $20,000. Other payments made by Park were smaller and often described as "campaign donations," like the $4,650 to House Majority Whip John Brademas and the $300 given to Mo Udall of Arizona.

Speaker Tip O'Neill has admitted twice receiving presents at birthday parties given for him at the George Town Club, which Park founded as a place to court the influential. The most prominent Republican Congressman on Park's list was onetime Ohio Representative William Minshall, but, among other Republicans, former Vice President Spiro Agnew had Middle East oil business dealings with Park after he left office in 1973, and former Nixon Aide Bill Timmons received a $60,000 fee from Park for public relations work.

Many on the list will face no penalty. In most cases, the five-year statute of limitations on felonies has expired, and only 14 of the 31 Congressmen named by Park remain members of the House. Still, the scandal may finally force the reluctant House to decide upon effective procedures for punishing unethical conduct in the future.

For his part, Park also remains a free man, and he hopes to go back to Korea later this week. He returned to the U.S. only after protracted negotiations that included two personal--and highly persuasive--messages from President Carter to South Korean President Park Chung Hee, and he was granted immunity from prosecution on the 36 counts (mail fraud, bribery, illegal campaign gifts) that were handed down against him last September. Only if he were caught lying in his present testimony could Park be held and tried in the U.S. That alone should be enough to make him tell the truth.

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