Korean Karate, The Moonies and the CIA

Former Moonie and "Father of American Tae Kwon Do" Jhoon Rhee

In May of 2011 we took a look at Alex Gillis's excellent history of Korean Karate, "A Killing Art".
Gillis has done an intense study of the politics of Tae Kwon Do and it's close relationship to the Unification Church of Reverend Moon and the Korean and American CIA.

For the purpose of this article, we will explore the origins of the intense nationalism and anti-communism that led to this unholy alliance.

The Korean peninsula has always been under attack or occupation by it's neighbors China and Japan. By extension, the influence of far right-wing Japanese nationalists played a tremendous role in shaping post-war Korea. Here is a description of the "Japanese Patriotic Societies":

The Rise of the Militarists

"Ultranationalism was characteristic of right-wing politicians and conservative military men since the inception of the Meiji Restoration, contributing greatly to the prowar politics of the 1870s. Disenchanted former samurai had established patriotic societies and intelligence-gathering organizations, such as the Gen'yosha (Black Ocean Society, founded in 1881) and its later offshoot, the Kokuryukai (Black Dragon Society, or Amur River Society, founded in 1901). These groups became active in domestic and foreign politics, helped foment prowar sentiments, and supported ultranationalist causes through the end of World War II. After Japan's victories over China and Russia, the ultranationalists concentrated on domestic issues and perceived domestic threats, such as socialism and communism." (link)

After World War Two and into the Korean War era Korea, Japan and the United States had one common agenda; anti-communism.
While not playing down the atrocities committed by the Communists, we cannot overlook those committed by these allies in the name of anti-communism. It's a broad subject, but it may help to focus on Korea.
According to researcher Dave Emory and detailed in Robert Boettcher's book "Gifts of Deceit" after W.W. 2 the American forces reinstalled the very Japanese fascists they had defeated to run post-war Korea. While the Japanese were detested by Koreans, they successfully industrialized the country and assimilated elements of Korean culture with Japanese schooling and industry. The United States later insured that Korea remained stable under a series of right-wing dictatorships.
In return, South Korea contributed to U.S. war efforts in Vietnam and elsewhere, sending troops and hand-to-hand combat instructors.

The Korean CIA became an extension of the American CIA, and as expected it's tentacles reached into various social and religious programs. This of course, included the Unification Church of Reverend Sun Myung Moon. Moon is a strong anti-communist who views himself as Christ reborn. Many of us remember the sales of flowers to fund the church, and that Moon owns the right-wing Washington Times newspaper.

Moon's right-hand man is named Bo Hi Pak, A Korean agent and president of the Korean Cultural and Freedom Foundation, an organization that channeled funds to the intelligence services. Later, the organization became involved in a scandal to bribe U.S. Congressmen.
Bo Hi Pak's cousin is none other than the father of American Tae Kwon Do, Jhoon Rhee.
Rhee had helped set up the Korean cultural and Freedom foundation but denied any knowledge of the illegal activity and intelligence connections.
Right.
Rhee allegedly split with Moon and the Unification Church in 1965. The church run by the Moonies went on to corrupt the U.S. government and dabble in industries such as building M-16 rifle factories and taking over fishing fleets.

Along with Gillis's book "A Killing Art" the book "Gifts of Deceit" by Robert Boettcher contains explosive information on the corrupting influence of Moon and the intelligence services. Boettcher was staff director of the Congressional investigation into the Korea-gate scandal of Korean bribes and influence peddling. Here's a brief review of Boettcher's book:

Gifts of Deceit

by Robert Boettcher
Legislative assistant to Representative Donald Fraser,
Democrat Minnesota

review by Allen Tate Wood
In Gifts of Deceit the late Robert Boettcher insightfully and thoroughly documents the activities and findings of the Fraser Committee. This congressional subcommittee( through it's 1978 report) on International Organizations opened a window on a world in Washington which many would prefer to see closed forever.
The report of this committee informally called the “Fraser Report” exhaustively documents and details Sun Myung Moon's role in working to shape American foreign policy. It further names a whole host of characters including American politicians, military leaders, Korean diplomats, former Japanese prime ministers, not to mention President Dwight D. Eisenhower who wittingly or unwittingly wound up acting as agents or surrogates for Sun Myung Moon and his "Unification Church".
In addition to reading like a first rate who dunn’it Boettcher's book gives the reader a behind the scenes look at official Washington which to this day has done nothing about the principal findings of the Frazer Committee: namely that the Unification Church has engaged in systematic violations of U.S law. Banking and currency laws, securities and exchange commission laws, Immigration and naturalization laws and charities fraud laws.
Boettcher's book is the first book that reveals the global geo-political ambitions of the Moon organization. It is a must for students of foreign relations, students of destructive cults, and for students of the U. S. Constitution particularly those who take an interest in the first and the thirteenth amendments.

A.T.Wood
December ,2000


It should be noted that author Boettcher was killed in a suspicious "accident". Here is his obituary in The New York Times:

Robert Boettcher, Staff Chief In House Inquiry, Dies in Fall
Published: May 30, 1984

Robert B. Boettcher, who was staff director of a Congressional investigation of South Korean influence-peddling in Washington in the 1970's, died Thursday in a fall from the roof of an apartment building on Central Park West, where he lived. He was 44 years old.
From 1971 until 1979, Mr. Boettcher directed the staff of the House Subcommittee on International Organizations. In that capacity he was in charge, under Representative Donald Fraser, of gathering evidence of a scandal in which Tongsun Park, a South Korean millionaire businessman, and others were accused of unlawfully seeking to influence American political figures in providing military and economic aid to Seoul.
Most recently Mr. Boettcher served as executive director of development and public relations for the Dance Theater of Harlem.
----------------------------------------------

It's a dangerous line where the CIA crosses paths with Karate and religious cults.
It goes without saying that many, many Korean Karate masters went to work training intelligence agents. This included my own instructor, Tae Hong Choi.
As Gillis describes in "A Killing Art", Korean martial artists were inseparable from both crime syndicates and the intelligence agencies.

*
Ex-Director
Informs On
KCIA Action
U.S. Probers Given
Secret and Detailed
Reports for 2 Years
By Scott irZt ciT1 g
and Charles R. Babcock
Washington Post Staff Writers
For the past two years, a former
director of the South Korean Intelligence
Agency has been secretly
giving federal investigators here
detailed information about the
KCIA's efforts to influence I.I.S.
officials with cash and gifts.
• According to informed sources, Kim .
Hyung Wook, who was KCIA director
In Seoul for seven years during the
1960s, has provided investigators with
a road map for their probe of the
South Korean influence-buying
scheme by revealing secret Swiss
bank accounts, identifying South Korean
businesses used as KCIA covers
and naming key KCIA agents, including
South Korean businessman Tongsun
Park.
In particular, Kim has told U.S.
investigators:
• South Korean President Park
Chung Hee systematically has diverted
to Swiss bank accounts roughly
5 per cent of all foreign investments
in his country.
•Park Chung Hee regularly funnelled
money into campaigns of congressional
and presidential candidates
here during the 1960s.
*U.S. congressmen visiting South
Korea were routinely given cash-filled
envelopes, elaborate entertainment,
female companionship, honorary degrees
and medals.
•A number of U.S. congressmen
now under federal investigation were
given cash in this country through
Tongsun Park and other KCIA. conduits
here, With some congressmen receiving
as much as $50,000 each.
• Park Chung Hee's son-in-law, Han
Byung Ki, then deputy ambassador in
the South Korean mission to the
United Nations, directed KCIA agents
who tried to suppress South Korean
dissidents in this country.
•Bo Hi Pak, a former military attaehe
at the South Korean Embassy

More at link

Why Is Curt Weldon Meddling in Libya?

Former Congressman, political gadfly and apparent arms dealer Curt Weldon was in Libya last week.
That's right; in the middle of what looks like a civil war, Weldon was trying to meet with Col. Momar Gaddafi:

"Weldon, whose trip was paid for by two oil lobbyists from Houston, says he was invited to Libya by Gaddafi's chief of staff, Dr. Bashir Saleh, adding that his message to government officials he met in Tripoli "was in direct support of the state public positions of President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton."
(snip)
"In the statement, Weldon says he also met with Saadi Gaddafi, the third son of the Libyan strongman, to urge the release of American journalist Clare Morgana Gillis, who writes for TheAtlantic.com, and three others. Also in custody are James Foley, a U.S. journalist with GlobalPost.com; Manu Brabo, a Spanish photographer; and Anton Hammerl, a South African photographer.
Weldon's flight to Libya was paid for by Houston attorney Brian Ettinger and former Bush aide Steve Payne, who accompanied him on the trip."
Read this link for more information on the complex nature of the individuals involved.

Curt Weldon is no stranger to political intrigue. I first learned about Weldon in the late 1990's when I was in contact with Gary Eitel. Eitel was a former CIA contract pilot that was blowing the whistle on a corrupt scheme to launder military C-130 aircraft. Originally destined to be converted to airtankers for Forest service fire-fighting use, the C-130 aircraft were diverted to use on covert operations for the CIA. A complete article I wrote in 1997 describes the details of the scheme at this link.
Weldon oversaw the Congressional investigation that Eitel testified before, eventually resulting in jail time for some of the various brokers involved.

Weldon was no stranger to covert operations at the time; His nephew Robert Weldon died in the crash of a C-130 in Angola on a mission for the CIA. (link)
"The Hercules C-130 was owned by Caribbean Air Transport company. It was heading for Cafunfo in the diamond-mining region of Lunda in north-eastern Angola.
The Angolan news agency ANGOP monitored in Lisbon, named the three dead Americans as Flight Captain Robert Snellgrave, mechanic Robert Weldon and load master Chuck Henrichs. The pilot was Stefan Paoletti, an Italian."
(snip)
"The problem between Curt Weldon and the CIA arose because of the connections between Roy Reagan and St. Lucia Airlines. It seems Curt's nephew was flying, as a mechanic, into Angola on secret CIA missions using aircraft that belonged to (or should have belonged to) the U.S. Forestry Service. U.S. Forestry planes were forbidden by statute from operating outside the United States. Weldon, understandably, wanted to understand the nature of his nephew's trip, but the CIA gave him the run-around. Weldon, a sitting Congressman then as now, took that as a personal insult. St. Lucia airlines is famous for its role in the Iran-Contra affair."

As the layers of CIA onion were peeled back, Weldon appears to have become obsessed with covert operations, perhaps even drawn to them as an insider or agent himself.
Reports from 2008 describe how Weldon became involved in brokering arms deals between the Russians, Iraq and Libya:

"Even though both Libya and the Russian arms export agency are on official U.S. blacklists, government officials and analysts involved in weapons sales say the rules have become unclear as the push to equip allies in the global war on terror has blazed new but uncertain legal ground.
Eagerly stepping into that virgin territory is Defense Solutions, a Pennsylvania-based company that is carving out a small but lucrative niche in a new international arms bazaar. The firm boasts as its advisors a number of influential Washington insiders, such as retired General Barry McCaffrey, the former White House drug czar.
Helping the firm make key connections is Curt Weldon, a former Republican congressman from Pennsylvania at the center of an FBI investigation into alleged conflicts of interest during his time in office. Weldon, now a key executive at Defense Solutions, is working with the company to set up these weapons deals."

Weldon was investigated by the FBI for such dealing, and eventually lost his long-held Congressional seat to former Navy Admiral Joe Sestack.

Weldon's deepest plunge into the covert rabbit-hole centers around the obvious yet highly denied claims that the Bush administration knew exactly what Mohammad Atta and the 9-11 hijackers were planning:


In his "Able Danger" investigation, Weldon produced witnesses that were involved in tracking and documenting the actions of the 9-11 hijackers.
Here is a snip from a press conference Weldon held regarding the "Able Danger" program and how 9-11 hijacking warnings were swept under the rug:

"The Pentagon has acknowledged now, publicly, that they have identified five defense employees who either vividly remember identifying Mohammed Atta prior to 9/11 or seeing his name linked with a Brooklyn cell prior to 9/11.
"We have Scott Philpott (ph), a Navy commanding officer, who's commanded one of our naval warships, an Annapolis graduate, who has come out publicly and risked his entire career to say what he'll say next Wednesday under oath: that he specifically remembers identifying Mohammed Atta in January and February of 2000, specifically; that he would stake his career on it. And that he was the leader of Able Danger.
We have Lieutenant Colonel Tony Shaffer -- who's outside in the hallway, who I couldn't bring into the House Gallery because of House rules, but who's available for you to talk to, outside -- who will testify under oath on Wednesday before the Senate that as a DIA liaison to Special Forces Command for Able Danger, he attempted to present information to the FBI on three occasions in September of 2000 about the Brooklyn cell and Mohammed Atta."
(Full text at this link)

While Weldon is considered a crackpot by the mainstream press, I suggest he is extremely well positioned to function as an intelligence asset for the Government.
For example; Brewster Jennings & Associates was the front company set up by the CIA to trawl for rogue governments and agents seeking nuclear and other weapons. Valerie Plame was the CIA agent in Brewster Jennings that was (in an act of possible treason) outed by Vice President Dick Cheney in the run-up to the Iraq war. Fronts like Brewster-Jennings and insiders like former Congressman Curt Weldon tread a fine line in the global arms business. I personally interviewed a similar individual, Dr. Richard Fuisz, who was regularly debriefed after business dealings in the middle east.
Here is where the stories have a possible intersection:
Dr. Richard Fuisz and former associate Susan Lindauer claim to have proof that the bombing of a Pan-Am flight over Lockerbie Scotland was not the work of Libyan agents, but was instead a Syrian plot that involved Oliver North's Iran-Contra arms and drug smuggling network. (See B.P., Libyan Oil and the Lockerbie Bombing)
Lindauer had met with agents of both Libya and Iraq before the Iraq war.

It is very likely that Weldon is aware of this and because he was previously involved in Libyan arms deals he was well positioned to attempt to negotiate a back-channel route for Gaddafi to step down and leave Libya. You can bet he has been de-briefed about his trip, where he apparently only met with one of Gadaffi's sons. He was, none-the-less, "boots on the ground" and had his eyes on the inner workings of the Gaddafi camp.
Rather than an obsessed crank or unprincipled arms dealer, I suggest Weldon is in possession of the dark knowledge of spy craft - a player with one foot in the arms bazaar and one foot in U.S. Intelligence networks.

As far as Gaddafi, I'm sure he is well protected by his his cadre of 40 "virgin" women bodyguards.

B.P., Libyan Oil And The Lockerbie Bombing

Well,well.
Oil well.
In August 2009, I wrote "The Lockerbie Bombing: What Really Happened".
People were outraged that Libyan agent Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi, the accused Lockerbie bomber, was released from a Scottish prison on compassionate grounds due to his cancer.
Now, with the eyes of the world on British Petroleum due to the huge oil blow-out in the gulf, it appears that a deal may have been cut to release Al Megrahi to fast-track a $968 million-dollar oil deal between B.P. and Libya.
But nobody is peeling the onion layers back far enough to understand what really happened. So, here is the repost of my August '09 story about Dr. Richard Fuisz, a CIA confidant I had contact with many years ago:

The Lockerbie Bombing: What Really Happened

Today's news is overflowing with outrage due to the release of the Libyan agent that allegedly was responsible for the bombing of Pan-Am 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. Interviews with family members still grieving for those who were killed are sincere and heartfelt.
But their anger towards Libya and British authorities are misplaced.
******
In 1994 I was writing for "The Portland Free Press", a small alternative newspaper Edited by researcher Ace Hayes. At the time, I was running a series on military C-130 aircraft destined for duty as Forest Service airtankers that were diverted to use by a group of shady CIA contractors. A source had described to me how money connected to the operation was being run through a bank called "Congress Financial", which was a CIA front company.
I received an unsolicited phone call from the secretary of a man named Dr. Richard Fuisz, and I returned the call. Fuisz confirmed the information about Congress Financial, and told me he had called to see if I would run a story about his knowledge of the sale of huge Terex trucks that had been converted to missile launchers and sold to Iraq shortly before the first Gulf War. He had personally toured the assembly plant in Motherwell, Scotland and officials described that it was a joint operation by the CIA and British Intelligence. Fuisz ran afoul of U.S. authorities when he tried to take the story to "60 Minutes". He had been hounded by private security firms, and had even had a personal meeting with President Bill Clinton to remedy the situation. His hope was to try to get the story in print, and I ran the article.
At the time, I realized that Dr. Fuisz was well-connected, but I had no idea that he was an agent for the CIA himself.
The Lockerbie Connection
At the same time Fuisz was feeding me information on the Terex Iraqi missile launchers, he was in contact with another Portland resident, Susan Lindauer. Lindauer was a press aide for then-Congressman (now Senator) Ron Wyden, and it's my guess that Lindauer may have given Fuisz my article referencing Congress Financial.
It was Lindauer's connection to Fuisz that got her in hot water when she was arrested for being an agent of the Iraqi government, which she denied. She had met with Iraqi diplomats before Bush invaded Iraq, but claimed it was on official business. Lindauer was also the cousin of former White House Chief-of-Staff Andrew Card. A deposition by Lindauer described how she was working with Fuisz, and that Fuisz knew from his Intelligence work in the Middle East that the Lockerbie bombing was actually the work of Syrians. From "The Sunday Herald" of Scotland, May 28 2000:

"Congressional aide Lindauer, who was involved in early negotiations over the Lockerbie trial, claims Fuisz made "unequivocal statements to me that he has first-hand knowledge about the Lockerbie case". In her affidavit, she goes on: "Dr Fuisz has told me that he can identify who orchestrated and executed the bombing. Dr Fuisz has said that he can confirm absolutely that no Libyan national was involved in planning or executing the bombing of Pan Am 103, either in any technical or advisory capacity whatsoever."
Fuisz's statements to Lindauer support the claims of the two Libyan accused who are to incriminate a number of terrorist organizations, including the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, which had strong links to Syria and Iran.
Lindauer said Fuisz told her he could provide information on Middle Eastern terrorists, and referred to Lockerbie as an "example of an unsolved bombing case that he said he has the immediate capability to resolve".
The Assassination of The Mckee Team
In a forgotten but incredibly revealing 1992 article, Time Magazine pieces together the story that contains clues to what actually happened.
On board the flight of Pan-Am 103 was an elite counter-terrorism team led by Major Charles Mckee. They were operating out of Germany and had been tasked to locating hostages in Lebanon. What they stumbled across was a parallel operation that was connected to none other than Col. Oliver North. North it appears, was in league with Syrian Drug runners (no surprise), presumably in an effort to secure information on the hostages also. North was allegedly allowing the Syrians to use a protected DEA drug pipeline run through the airlines in Europe. In the wreckage of the crash, investigators recovered Heroin and $500,000 in cash. The cash may have been in the hands of Mckee, to pay off informants. Mckee was upset and had contacted his superiors when he found the iceberg-tip of Norths operation, believing it may have compromised his own team. Mckee was on the verge of exposing the underbelly of North's shady dealings and the root of the entire Iran-Contra affair. According to the investigators hired by Pan-Am (Interfor, led by an ex-Mossad agent) the Mossad had warned of a possible airline bombing. The warning was ignored. The Mckee team, which was about to blow the whistle on the Iran-Contra scandal and North's complicity in drug running, was assassinated in the bombing.
Dr. Fuisz, who was placed under a gag-order never spoke to me after the Terex missile-launcher story. He places the blame on the Syrians, who got a pass if they would support Iraq War efforts. The blame shifted to Libya.
Susan Lindauer, the former Congressional Aide who was working with Fuisz, was placed in a mental institution on a U.S. Military Base and force-fed medication to shut her up. She recently appeared on "The Thom Hartmann Radio Show", once again explaining her story.

And today we watch as the accused Libyan agent, dying of cancer, is released from prison for humanitarian reasons.

Read This 1992 Time Magazine Story, before it disappears...

The Sunday Herald "CIA Witness Gagged by U.S. Government"

***UPDATE***
Lawyers for the accused bomber and British authorities are prepared to name the identity of the true bomber. They say he is an American/Syrian who was working as an American Double Agent.
Read the story here

And this:
Diplomats pulled off plane due to U.S. knowledge of bomb, students took their place.

So listen up kids. This is what's called "Realpolitik".
US agents were working with middle-eastern agents during the Iran-Contra affair.
They knew there was a bomb threat on the plane. The target may have been the Mackee team. It appears they let it happen.
Libyan Al Megrahi was probably a "patsy", the "Oswald" of Lockerbie.
And the Bush administration re-opened diplomatic relations with Libya so B.P. could get their oil deal.