Reply #28: Oh yeah. Remember the Korean CIA tried bribing Congress?

[Octafish]

Behind the Times: Who Pulls The Strings at Washington's No. 2 Daily?

By Fred Clarkson
Aug./Sept. '87


The Washington Times, the right-wing daily that bills itself as an alternative to the Washington Post, is owned and influenced by Rev. Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church. But most journalists seem unable or unwilling to consider the political implications of this fact -- despite the role of Washington Times executives in the Koreagate scandal of the 1970s and the Iran-contra scandal today.

Since its inception in 1982, the Washington Times has gained a circulation of about 100,000 and the endorsement of President Ronald Reagan, who reads it every day. Founding editor and publisher James Whelan resigned in July 1984, charging that top Unification Church (UC) officials had taken over the paper in violation of UC guarantees of independence. In 1987, Times editorial page editor William Cheshire and several staff members also resigned over UC interference.

The Washington Times public relations line -- printed as fact in a Time magazine profile (6/15/87) -- maintains that the newspaper is "owned by a group of Korean investors affiliated with the Unification Church." These "investors" -- the Korean-based Tong-II Industries -- do not seem to view the Times as a profit-making venture. Current Times editor-in-chief Arnaud de Borchgrave told the Washington Post (5/6/87) that a Tong-II executive described one of the company's factories as "the logistical tail of the Washington Times." "They are very conscious of the fact that a certain portion of their profit comes to us to meet the subsidy," de Borchgrave said.

SNIP...

Three NWC executives are not only top Unification Church officials, but have also had high-ranking posts in the Korean CIA (KCIA). Sang Kook Han, a "personal assistant" to the KCIA director in the early 1960s, later served as South Korea's ambassador to Norway and Panama. In 1984, Han was installed at the Washington Times, precipitating the resignation of editor James Whelan. Currently senior vice president of New World Communications, Han is described by Whelan as the "de facto publisher" and "inspector general" of the Times.

CONTINUED...

http://www.fair.org/extra/best-of-extra/washington-times.html