[News Today] 1970s KOREAGATE LOBBYIST DIES

[LEAD]
Park Tongsun, a key figure in the 'Koreagate' scandal that rocked South Korea-U.S. relations in the 1970s, has passed away. He was once known as an 'international lobbyist' and 'The Asian Great Gatsby'. We have the details.

[REPORT]
Front page of the Washington Post dated October of 1976. Its headline reads "Seoul gave millions to U.S."

That was the beginning of Koreagate that rocked Korea-U.S. relations.

The article reported that Park Tongsun, a Korean-American businessman, had bribed U.S. public officials at the order of the Korean government.

Dubbed an 'international lobbyist' and 'The Asian Great Gatsby,' Park passed away yesterday afternoon at age 89.

After graduating from Georgetown University in the 1960s, he founded the Georgetown Club in Washington D.C. and networked with American politicians.

Koreagate sparked anti-Korea sentiments in the U.S., leading to the U.S. House of Representatives and a special council team conducting an extensive investigation into the political scandal.

At a public congressional hearing, Park admitted to bribing U.S. officials but never let on that the money had anything to do with the Korean government.

Park Tongsun/ KBS Korean Modern History Testimony TV Memoir (Jan. 2013)
The Korean government never told me to lobby on their behalf. Rather, it served to extend the U.S. congressional members' political careers.

The political scandal left one House legislator convicted of receiving money from Park and seven others disciplined by Congress.

Park was also arrested by the FBI for receiving 2.5 million U.S. dollars from Iraq in the oil-for-food conspiracy involving the United Nations in 2006. He was sentenced to five years in prison for his role in the scandal but was released early in September 2008 and returned to Korea.

Park was reportedly hospitalized about a week ago for chronic illnesses. His memorial altar is set up at the funeral home of Soon Chun Hyang University Hospital in Seoul.

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