‘Koreagate’ lobbyist Kim Han-jo dies at 91

By Lee Tae-hoon

A key figure in the “Koreagate” bribery scandal that took place in Washington D.C. in the 1970s, passed away last Thursday after suffering from acute malnutrition, his family and hospital staff said Friday.

Kim Han-jo was 91 and had undergone treatment at Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital for malnutrition and stomach disorders before his death on July 26, hospital officials said.

Kim was among a group of South Korean lobbyists involved in the scandal, first reported by The Washington Post on Oct. 15, 1976.

Kim, along with Tongsun Park, a businessman, lobbied U.S. Congressmen Richard T.

Hanna by offering bribes and other favors to reverse then President Richard Nixon’s decision to withdraw American troops from South Korea.

Some 115 members of the U.S. Congress were allegedly involved in the scandal, which occurred when Seoul’s relations with Washington soured due largely to the dictatorial practices of the president at that time, Park Chung-hee.

The Korea Central Intelligence Agency allegedly funneled bribes and favors through the South Korean lobbyists.

A hospital official said Kim’s stomach stopped working because he starved himself for more than 10 days after he said he had no will to live.

Kim first went to the United States in 1953 to study and earned a doctorate degree in business administration from American University in Washington D.C.

He began his career as an employee of a U.S. pharmaceutical company. He established his own cosmetic company, called John and Bee Dee, which raked in some $21 million in sales in 1973 alone.

Kim served four months at Allenwood, a minimum-security prison in Pennsylvania, in 1979 for bribery and perjury.

He returned home in 1981, where he lived in solitude