KOREAGATE CRACKDOWN

U.S. feds caught and arrested Korean lobbyist, Tongsun Park, last Friday. Like I wrote in a post a few below, once you cross the line of compromise in ethics and morals it becomes easier to do the next time. It seems Mr. Park was a man that learned about this long ago and allowed it to follow him throughout his life.

Park Tongsun, a South Korean lobbyist, was arrested Friday in Houston, the United States, on a charge of illegally lobbying for Iraq's former leader, Saddam Hussein, under the United Nations oil-for-food program, U.S. federal authorities said yesterday.

Mr. Park, 71, was a central figure in a bribery scandal in the 1970s, known as "Koreagate," in which he paid bribes to U.S. lawmakers to gain support for loans to South Korea under the Park Chung Hee regime.

According to the New York Times, Michael J. Garcia, the United States attorney in Manhattan, announced that Mr. Park was arrested in Houston by F.B.I. agents but did not provide any information about how he was found. The newspaper also said that Mr. Park will appear today before a federal magistrate in Houston. (full article)