76-08-A6

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Korea

Transcript News leaks from the inner sanctum of the Justice Department have led to a journalistic carnival over the doings of a South Korean businessman, Tongsun Park, who used to domicile in Washington, D.C. According to the headlines, Mr. Park and unnamed officials of the South Korean government eased the rigors of life in the U.S. Congress by showering on an unspecified number of Congressmen gifts, cash and trips to Korea. The objective was to solidify opposition to those who would have us withdraw our forces from South Korea. Now, no one can condone bribery or influence-buying, but certainly we can understand the fear which might have prompted such an attempt. South Korea has known freedom from colonial rule for such a short time. And in that brief period of freedom the Communist forces of North Korea swept across a border only 20 miles from the South Korean capital and almost imposed a new slavery on the emerging free nation. We freed them from colonialism and stood beside them against Communist aggression. Let's get to the bottom of possible wrongdoing in our capital, but let's not fall for the idea that our Congressmen were innocents seduced into accepting gifts against their will. In getting to the bottom of this sordid affair, we shouldn't try to fix a one-sided blame in such a way as to weaken the seams of an alliance which is every bit as valuable to the United States, to the Republic of China on Taiwan, to Japan, Australia, and the other free nations of the Pacific as it is to South Korea. If trips by Congressmen to South Korea are unquestioned evidence of illicit gifts and bribes, then shouldn't we look at the justification for fairly recent junkets to Moscow, Peking, Havana, to several new African capitals? Will Congress investigate itself with the same killer instinct it displayed when it went after the C.I.A. and the F.B.I.? What should bother us most is the one-sided attention some elements of the press have been giving to the suspected South Koreans who allegedly gave the gifts and so little to the recipients of those gifts. As the saying goes -- it takes two to tango. What makes the bias all the more evident is the contrast in the way one major paper has treated a scandal involving scores of North Korean diplomats in several Scandinavian capitals who were trafficking in smuggled liquor and drugs. It titled the story, "The Gang that Couldn't Smuggle Straight", and treated their criminal acts as a kind of lighthearted escapade. The same paper printed ads paid for by the North Korean government, which railed against QUOTE United States Imperialists and their henchmen -- UNQUOTE. The ads called us criminals who occupied South Korea by force. But no South Koreans are chanting "Yankee go home" It would seem the campaign is on to persuade us to abandon another ally -- this time it's South Korea. This is Ronald Reagan. Thanks for listening.		Details Batch Number 76-08-A6 Production Date 01/19/1977 Book/Page RPtV-107 Audio Youtube? No
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