Fraser Committee

The Fraser Committee (also known as the Subcommittee on International Organizations) was a committee of the United States House of Representatives which met in 1977 and 1978 and conducted an investigation into South Korea–United States relations. It was chaired by Representative Donald M. Fraser of Minnesota. It issued a 447 page report entitled "Investigation of Korean-American Relations; Report of the Subcommittee on International Organizations of the Committee on International Relations, U.S. House of Representatives". Eighty-one pages (pages 311 to 392) of the report presented the subcommittee's findings on Sun Myung Moon, the Unification Church, and what the subcommittee termed "the Moon Organization."

Issues explored by the committee

In its report, the subcommittee described issues that had been raised during its earlier 1976 investigation into the activities of the National Intelligence Service (South Korea) (KCIA) in the United States.

The subcommittee had received allegations concerning Sun Myung Moon and organizations associated with him: [http://www.freedomofmind.com/resourcecenter/groups/m/moonies/fraser-report/index.html "Investigation of Korean-American Relations; Report of the Subcommittee on International Organizations of the Committee on International Relations, U.S. House of Representatives"] ]

Many Americans were distressed by the recruitment techniques of the UC. Others questioned the failure of the UC to state openly its ties with the numerous groups it had set up; the use to which it 312 put its tax-exempt status; the propriety of its owning and operating an armaments plant in South Korea; possible links to the South Korean Government; and Moon's statements in late 1973 and 1974 concerning President Nixon and Watergate. The most volatile controversy raged around the charges that "Moonies" were brainwashed. The UC in turn countercharged that parents were kidnaping UC members for "deprogramming" and successfully obtained court orders restricting the activities of the deprogrammers.

Lee Jai Hyon, a former official of the South Korea (ROK) Government who had been stationed at the Korean Embassy in Washington, testified at that earlier investigation: "Lee described what appeared to him to be 'a curious working relationship' involving the Korean Government, the UC, and other organizations associated with Moon." Lee Jai Hyon's allegations included:
*That Pak Bo Hi, Moon's aide and translator and president of the Washington-based Korean Cultural and Freedom Foundation (KCFF), had access to the South Korean Embassy's cable channel to Seoul.
*That agents of the KCIA at the Embassy maintained contact with the Freedom Leadership Foundation (FLF), "another Moon-related organization in Washington."
*That Moon had founded the "Little Angels", a Korean children's dance troupe which had appeared around the world as official representative of the Korean Government.
*That South Korean President Park Chung Hee had mailed out 60,000 letters on behalf of the KCFF.
*That Moon operated an anti-Communist indoctrination center in South Korea for South Korean Government employees and military officers. Lee also pointed to Moon's rise to wealth and prominence under the Park regime and suggested that this could only have occurred with the active cooperation of the KCIA and other branches of the Government.

Alan Tate Wood, a former UC member who had been president of the FLF, also testified to the subcommittee, alleging that "Moon, through the UC and its numerous front organizations, wanted to acquire enough influence in America to be able to "dictate policy on major issues, to influence legislation, and move into electoral politics." In the United States, the political goals of the UC and those of the KCIA "overlap so thoroughly as to display no difference at all." Wood also charged that Moon was violating U.S. laws by importing aliens to raise funds and that fundraising by UC members was often done under false pretenses."

Criticisms of the "Moon Organization"

The subcommittee summarized its criticisms as follows:
*"The UC and numerous other religious and secular organizations headed by Sun Myung Moon constitute essentially one international organization."
*"The Moon Organization attempts to achieve goals outlined by Sun Myung Moon, who has substantial control over the economic, political, and spiritual activities undertaken by the organization in pursuit of those goals."
*"Among the goals of the Moon Organization is the establishment of a worldwide government in which the separation of church and state would be abolished and which would be governed by Moon and his followers."
*"In pursuit of this and other goals, the Moon Organization has attempted, with varying degrees of success, to gain control over or establish business and other secular institutions in the United States and elsewhere, and has engaged in political activities in the United States. Some of these activities were undertaken to benefit the ROK Government or otherwise to influence U.S. foreign policy."
*"While pursuing its own goals, the Moon Organization promoted the interests of the ROK Government, and at times did so in cooperation with, or at the direction of, ROK agencies and officials."
*"The Moon Organization established the KCFF ostensibly as a nonprofit foundation to promote Korean-American relations, but used the KCFF to promote its own political and economic interests and those of the ROK Government."
*"The Moon Organization extensively used the names of Senators, Congressmen, U.S. Presidents, and other prominent Americans to raise funds and to create political influence for itself and the ROK Government."
*"A Moon Organization business is an important defense contractor in Korea. It is involved in the production of M-16 rifles, antiaircraft guns, and other weapons."
*"Moon Organization agents attempted to obtain permission from an American corporation to export M-16's manufactured in Korea. The M-16's are manufactured under a coproduction 388 agreement approved by the U.S. Government, which puts M-16 production under the exclusive control of the Korean Government. Despite this, Moon Organization representative appeared-apparently on behalf of the Korean Government--to negotiate an extension of the agreement."
*"The Moon Organization attempted to obtain a controlling interest in the Diplomat National Bank by disguising the source of funds used to purchase stock in the names of UC members."
*"The Moon Organization used church and other tax-exempt components in support of its political and economic activities."
*"Although many of the goals and activities of the Moon Organization were legitimate and lawful, there was evidence that it had systematically violated U.S. tax, immigration, banking, currency, and Foreign Agents Registration Act laws, as well as State and local laws relating to charity fraud, and that these violations were related to the organization's overall goals of gaining temporal power."

Criticisms of the committee

Bo Hi Pak

Bo Hi Pak, who was at that time one of the top leaders of the Unification Church and who was called to testify at the hearings, said:

:Mr. Fraser conducted the most extensive congressional inquiry into a religious organization in recent history, alleging that the Unification Church was a front for the Korean Central Intelligence Agency. To prove this, he subpoenaed church officials, interviewed scores of present and former church members, minutely scrutinized church financial records (literally tons of documents were turned over to the subcommittee), probed the business and political affiliations of church members, sent investigators to Korea, and speculated about the meaning of the church's religious doctrines and teachings. Despite all of this, in the end he had to admit that all of his major allegations were false. Rather than apologizing for the ugly rumors his investigation had spread, however, Mr. Fraser buried his admissions in begrudging, single-line statements in the middle of a 447-page report that few people will ever read.

:For instance, Mr. Fraser's final report on Korean-American relations had to recognize the following:

:1. That the Unification Church and associated organizations were not agents for the Korean Government or the KCIA (Fraser report p. 389).

:2. That the ridiculous rumor that the Director of the KCIA had founded the Unification Church-a rumor propagated by Mr. Fraser himself-had no basis in fact (Fraser report p. 354).

:3. That the ugly stories, made public by the investigation, alleging that Rev. Moon had been arrested on morals charges in Korea also turned out to be utterly groundless (Fraser report p. 353).

:4. That there was no evidence of funding by the Korean government and no collusion between the members of the Unification Church and Tongsun Park with regard to stock purchases in the Diplomat National Bank (Fraser report pp. 385-6).

:No, Mr. Fraser could not bring himself to make these admissions publicly. Instead he made a series of new charges, many of which have nothing at all to do with Korean-American relations and are equally outlandish and unfounded. As a fig leaf to hide his own failure, Mr. Fraser has now asked for more investigations. After spending $685,000 and nearly three years, all he could recommend is that "somebody should investigate." When one Washington reporter heard this at his press conference he commented, "Do you mean after all this time and money, you're calling for another investigation? You've got to be joking!" [ [http://www.tparents.org/Library/Unification/Books/Tims1/Tims1-06.htm Press Conference] , Bo Hi Pak, January 17, 1979
]

Mose Durst

Unification Church president Dr. Mose Durst issued a statement criticizing media coverage of the church. In it he said about Fraser :

:Donald Fraser was seen recalling what he considered to be a series of unfair articles about him which appeared in The News World in 1978. Fraser said, "I didn't appreciate the accusation they were making against me. They were absolutely false, I think they knew they were false." "Frontline" did not report what the accusations were nor attempt to confirm their validity.

:For example, Fraser admitted paying witnesses who testified against Reverend Moon in those hearings $2,000 each pursuant to a "consulting contract." When Rep. Edward J. Derwinski, the subcommittee's ranking minority member, discovered this breach of congressional ethics, he stated, "It will have all the appearances of a payoff to witnesses for their testimony."

:In addition, Fraser admitted payment of "salary advances" to a staff member in violation of federal law. These abuses were widely reported on the wire services and by "The News World". If "Frontline" intended to present an objective report, why was Fraser not confronted on camera with these facts?

:During the four years following the Fraser committee report, the Unification Church was the subject of major investigations by the INS, the IRS, the Justice Department, the SEC and several other government agencies, including the U.S. Congress, and was found to be operating within the law. [ [http://www.tparents.org/Library/Unification/Talks/Durst/FRONTLNE.htm Unification Church Response to Frontline Production of The Resurrection of Reverend Moon] ]

External links

* [http://www.freedomofmind.com/resourcecenter/groups/m/moonies/fraser-report/index.html Excerpt from the report] on Steven Hassan's Freedom of Mind Web site
* [http://www.rickross.com/reference/unif/Unif11.html Excerpt from the report] on the Rick Ross Institute Web site;House resolutions
* [http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/D?d095:7:./temp/~bdBPOu:: House Resolution 996] , 1977
* [http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/D?d095:8:./temp/~bdG9k1:: House Resolution 999] , 1978;Scholarly articles
* [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0362-9805(197708)2%3A3%3C255%3AOOFPTU%3E2.0.CO%3B2-O "Oversight of Foreign Policy: The U. S. House Committee on International Relations"] , Fred Kaiser, "Legislative Studies Quarterly", Vol. 2, No. 3 (Aug., 1977), pp. 255-279

ee also

*List of United States House committees
*Koreagate
*Tongsun Park
*"Gifts of Deceit"
*Whisper campaign

References