{{Short description|1976–1977 U.S. committee on Koreagate}}
The '''Subcommittee on International Organizations of the Committee on International Relations''' (also known as the '''Fraser Committee''') was a committee of the U.S. House of Representatives which met in 1976 and 1977 and conducted an investigation into the "Koreagate" scandal.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last1=Kim|first1=Byung-Kook|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8yAwEAAAQBAJ&dq=fraser+committee+koreagate&pg=PA474|title=The Park Chung Hee Era: The Transformation of South Korea|last2=Vogel|first2=Ezra F.|date=2013-03-11|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=978-0-674-26509-7|pages=474|language=en}}</ref> It was chaired by Representative Donald M. Fraser of Minnesota. The committee's 447-page report, made public on November 29, 1977, reported on plans by the National Intelligence Service (South Korea) (KCIA) to manipulate American institutions to the advantage of South Korean government policies, overtly and covertly.<ref>[https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F10C12F63C5E167493C2AA178AD95F438785F9 House Unit Discloses Korean Plan To Manipulate U.S. Organizations; House Unit Discloses South Korea Plan to Manipulate U.S. Organizations], ’’New York Times’’, November 30, 1977</ref>
== Hearings == The committee conducted an extensive investigation into South Korea–United States relations, and held a series of hearings. The committee's hearings were highly publicized, and the term "Koreagate" began to be used by American news media outlets at the time.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Bankston|first=Carl Leon|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PnEbAQAAMAAJ&q=fraser+committee+testified+koreagate|title=Great Events from History: 1972-1998|date=2009|publisher=Salem Press|isbn=978-1-58765-470-1|pages=481|language=en}}</ref>
During these hearings, former KCIA director Kim Hyong-uk testified that he had offered favors to Pak Tong-sun in exchange for the latter's efforts to lobby in Washington, D.C.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Kim|first1=Byung-Kook|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8yAwEAAAQBAJ&dq=fraser+committee+koreagate&pg=PA474|title=The Park Chung Hee Era: The Transformation of South Korea|last2=Vogel|first2=Ezra F.|date=2013-03-11|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=978-0-674-26509-7|pages=475|language=en}}</ref> Kim also testified that a month before the hearings, South Korean president Park Chung Hee had attempted to dissuade him from testifying, and had ordered his kidnapping or assassination if he proceeded to testify.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Halloran|first=Richard|date=1977-07-03|title=EX‐KOREA AIDE SAYS PARK ENVOY TOLD HIM HE SHOULD BE SILENT|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1977/07/03/archives/exkorea-aide-says-park-envoy-told-him-he-should-be-silent-reports-a.html|access-date=2022-01-05|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>
Various members of the Unification Church of the United States testified that churchmembers had been involved in attempts to lobby congress.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Wilson|first=Bryan R.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6V2QAAAAMAAJ&q=fraser+committee+testified+koreagate|title=The Social Impact of New Religious Movements|date=1981|publisher=Unification Theological Seminary|isbn=978-0-932894-09-0|pages=211|language=en}}</ref> Dan Fefferman, a leader in the Unification Church of the United States, refused to cooperate fully during the hearings.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Association|first1=British Sociological|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9_fmXHvCPh0C&dq=fraser+committee+koreagate&pg=PA181|title=Of Gods and Men: New Religious Movements in the West : Proceedings of the 1981 Annual Conference of the British Sociological Association, Sociology of Religion Study Group|last2=Conference|first2=British Sociological Association Sociology of Religion Study Group|date=1983|publisher=Mercer University Press|isbn=978-0-86554-095-8|pages=181|language=en}}</ref>
== Fraser Report == The committee made its findings public in what became known as the "Fraser report". The committee's report that there were South Korean plans to plant an intelligence network in the White House and to influence the United States Congress, newsmedia, clergy, and educators.<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=uqsSAAAAIBAJ&sjid=AvkDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6765,3408302&dq=fraiser+committee+unification Intelligence Net Bared in Probe], Associated Press, ''Spokane Daily Chronicle'', November 29, 1977</ref><ref>''New York Times'', 1977-11-30</ref> The report found that Korean businessman Tongsun Park had begun lobbying for in 1970, immediately after Nixon withdrew the U.S. Seventh Army division from South Korea.<ref name=":0" />
The committee found that the KCIA was working with Sun Myung Moon, founder of the Unification Church of the United States, and that some church members worked as volunteers in congressional offices.<ref>{{Cite news|last=McFadden|first=Robert D.|date=2019-06-03|title=Donald M. Fraser, Lawmaker Who Bared a South Korea Plot, Dies at 95|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/03/obituaries/donald-fraser-dead.html|access-date=2022-01-05|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Together they founded the Korean Culture and Freedom Foundation, a nonprofit organization which undertook a public diplomacy campaign for the Republic of Korea.<ref>{{cite book| first = Sara| last = Diamond| title = Spiritual Warfare: The Politics of the Christian Right| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=AabywLOknbsC&pg=PA59| year = 1989| publisher = South End Press| isbn = 978-0-89608-361-5| page = 59 }}</ref> The committee also investigated possible KCIA influence on the Unification movement's campaign in support of Richard Nixon during the Watergate scandal.<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=f7ITAAAAIBAJ&sjid=KeADAAAAIBAJ&pg=6935,979096&dq=fraser+korea Ex-aide of Moon Faces Citation for Contempt], Associated Press, ''Eugene Register-Guard'', August 5, 1977</ref>
The report of the committee also found that the KCIA planned to grant money to American universities in order to attempt to influence them for political purposes.<ref>[http://www.jpri.org/publications/occasionalpapers/op7.html South Korea's Academic Lobby], Bruce Cummings, Japan Policy Research Center, University of San Francisco, May 1996, "The U.S. House investigation of Koreagate (known as the Fraser committee, after its head, Donald Fraser, a Democrat from Minnesota) got hold of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency's 1976 plan for operations in the U.S., which contained a section titled "Operations in Academic and Religious Circles." It called for spreading money around to change the attitudes of anti-ROK scholars in the U.S. The committee concluded that:'...the Korean Government attempted to use grants to influence American universities for political purposes. . . .The KCIA played a large role in these efforts.'"</ref> It also said that the KCIA had harassed and intimidated Korean people living in the United States if they protested against Republic of Korea government policies.<ref>{{cite book| title = Third World Quarterly| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=v72RAAAAIAAJ| date = January 1987| publisher = Carfax Publishing Company}}</ref>
== Aftermath == In response to the investigation, the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct filed and heard charges against members of the United States House of Representatives. Congressman Richard T. Hanna was convicted of conspiracy to defraud the United States Government, and was sentenced to serve between 6 and 30 months in prison.<ref>{{Cite news|first=Richard|last=Halloran|date=1978-04-25|title=Ex‐Rep. Hanna Is Sentenced to Prison in Korean Influence‐Buying Case|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1978/04/25/archives/new-jersey-pages-exrep-hanna-is-sentenced-to-prison-in-korean.html|access-date=2022-01-05|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>
The ethics committee censured Edward R. Roybal for failing to report that he had received a $1,000 gift from Park.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Babcock|first=Charles R.|date=1978-10-14|title=House Votes Reprimands for Roybal, McFall and Wilson|language=en-US|newspaper=Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1978/10/14/house-votes-reprimands-for-roybal-mcfall-and-wilson/c7195919-8d25-4533-a588-e6f78bc62021/|access-date=2022-01-05|issn=0190-8286}}</ref> Two other congressmen, Charles H. Wilson and John J. McFall were reprimanded. A fourth congressman, Edward J. Patten, was found not guilty.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Babcock|first=Charles R.|date=1978-10-09|title=Koreagate: Bringing Forth a Mouse, But an Honest One|language=en-US|newspaper=Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1978/10/09/koreagate-bringing-forth-a-mouse-but-an-honest-one/3329ce7e-095f-4bb3-9cd1-f909a158183a/|access-date=2022-01-05|issn=0190-8286}}</ref> The committee investigated claims that Edward Derwinski had leaked confidential information to South Korean officials, but the inquiry ended inconclusively.<ref>{{Cite web|date=1989-01-12|title=Derwinski Tipped S. Korea on Defector, Then Denied It|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-01-12-mn-233-story.html|access-date=2022-01-05|website=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US}}</ref>
Kim Hyong-uk disappeared in October 1979, and was reportedly assassinated on the orders of Kim Jae-kyu, then-director of the KCIA.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Report: South Korea spy chief killed|url=https://www.upi.com/Top_News/2005/05/26/Report-South-Korea-spy-chief-killed/77411117158490/|access-date=2022-01-05|website=UPI|language=en}}</ref>
==See also== * South Korea–United States relations * List of United States House of Representatives committees * ''Gifts of Deceit'' * Unification Church political activities * Unification Church and North Korea * Unification Church of the United States
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * [https://archive.org/details/investigationofk00unit Full report] on the Internet Archive * [https://www.jstor.org/stable/439341 ''Oversight of Foreign Policy: The U. S. House Committee on International Relations''], Fred Kaiser, ''Legislative Studies Quarterly'', Vol. 2, No. 3 (Aug., 1977), pp. 255–279 * [http://www.tparents.org/Library/Unification/Talks/Durst/FRONTLNE.htm Unification Church Response to Frontline Production of The Resurrection of Reverend Moon], Mose Durst * [http://www.tparents.org/Library/Unification/Books/Tims1/Tims1-06.htm Press Conference], Bo Hi Pak, January 17, 1979
{{Foreign relations of South Korea}} {{Unification Church}}
Category:South Korea–United States relations Category:United States House of Representatives Category:Unification Church controversies