News-Info-Alerts

To: ALL

From: Andi Wolos & Bob Necci

(POW-MIA InterNetwork)

Re: Ex-State Dept. Analyst Admits Taking Gifts

Date: August 30, 2001

"Ex-State Dept. Analyst Admits Taking Gifts

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A former State Department analyst pleaded guilty on Thursday to conflict-of-interest and false-statement charges arising from a probe of his relationship with a New Jersey businessman who also has links to Senator Robert Torricelli.

Kenneth Quinones, who had been an analyst on North Korean affairs with the State Department between 1992 and 1997, pleaded guilty in Newark, New Jersey, federal court to the charges that he lied about his relationship with David Chang, a New Jersey businessman and Bright & Bright Corp., a corporation affiliated with Chang.

Separately, Chang is a cooperating witness in the government's probe into whether Torricelli, a New Jersey Democrat, received unreported gifts from the businessman who was seeking his help in business dealings with the governments of both North and South Korea.

Quinones, 58, of Centreville, Virginia, could face a maximum prison term of 10 years in prison and a $500,000 fine.

He had been a State Department analyst and did special assignments, serving as a State Department liaison to the Defense Department in negotiating and implementing agreements with North Korea for recovery of the remains of the U.S. servicemen missing in action during the Korean War.

The charge said that while he was employed in these positions, he dealt frequently with Chang and his representatives concerning business interests in North Korea of Bright & Bright and other corporation controlled by Chang.

In this period Quinones received and processed numerous requests from Chang and his representatives for advice on matters requiring State Department approval, including the release of millions of dollars of assets of North Korea that were frozen by the U.S. government that could be used, if they were unfrozen, to repay part of a debt that the North Korean government owed to corporations controlled by Chang.

Quinones accepted gifts from Chang including a car valued at more than $33,000, a job for one of Quinones' children at Bright & Bright and a scholarship from the firm covering the college tuition of another of his children."