GIFTS OF DECEIT: Sun Myung Moon, Tongsun Park, and the Korean Scandal

by Robert with Gordon L. Freedman Boettcher ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 7, 1980

As corruption scandals go, the one involving South Korean bribes to U.S. congressmen--which the press tried to dub ""Koreagate""--isn't up there with Teapot Dome or Watergate. But Boettcher's recounting of the Korean scandal centers on at least one other pervasive factor: namely, the Reverend Moon's Unification Church. In sometimes excruciating detail, Boettcher traces the convergence of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency, socialite Tongsun Park, and Moon's Church into a common cause. Park, who lined up congressmen for bribes, was the fall guy for the KCIA, which engineered the payoffs aimed at keeping U.S. aid flowing to South Korea. Park became the focus of attention and was exposed, but it's the Moonies--armed with Moon's anti-communist evangelism--who have Boettcher worried. In Moon's view, Boettcher explains, God has chosen Korea to unify the world, and Japan and the U.S. have supporting roles in combating the devil and his forces of world communism. Since Moon sees himself as the key unifier, he fell in with the Seoul government and its influence campaign. Moon, says Boettcher, didn't try to bribe anyone; but bribery is petty stuff compared to the huge propaganda and lobbying network he has created, staffed by his vacant-eyed followers. So, while the bribers and some of the bribed have bitten the dust (Boettcher thinks the really big payees got away free), Moon goes on--probably still collecting tons of money from the KCIA, but self-propelled by his own fanaticism; and Boettcher makes the case that freedom of religion shouldn't protect the political machinations of the Unification Church. The material on the bribes is fairly familiar, but Boettcher's expose of the Moonies is still relevant, and more interesting.

Pub Date: May 7, 1980

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Holt, Rinehart & Winston

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1980

Categories: NONFICTION