Witness in Bribery Case Admits Giving $3,000 to Officer : Courts: Korean businessman testifies at pretrial hearing. LAPD veteran is accused of soliciting payment.

The key witness in the case of an LAPD detective accused of soliciting a bribe suffered bouts of forgetfulness and gave rambling, contradictory answers when asked for the first time in court Monday to explain why he gave $3,000 to the veteran officer, William Chul Jang.

However, the witness, visiting Korean businessman Jung Suk Kim, did acknowledge that he handed Jang an envelope with two bundles of marked $20 bills during a September dinner meeting at the Cotton Club, a Koreatown nightclub on 8th Street.

“I handed the envelope to Detective Jang,” said an obviously nervous Kim through an interpreter during an unusual pretrial court hearing before Superior Court Judge Charles E. Horan. “I asked him where the $2,000 would go and where the other $1,000 would go. Of course, I don’t remember in detail.”

The conditional hearing, in which no decision was made whether Kim’s statements will eventually be heard by a jury, was held as a result of prosecutors’ fears that the Korean national could leave the country before the trial of Jang, 32.

The 10-year LAPD veteran is charged with soliciting a $3,000 bribe to save Kim from being prosecuted on spousal battery charges and to clear up other legal problems. Jang also is the prime suspect in an ongoing Sheriff’s Department investigation of the May shotgun slaying of a woman who frequented Koreatown hostess bars.

Jang, who has proclaimed his innocence and is free on $100,000 bail while awaiting trial, is one of several law enforcement officers who have been accused, disciplined or convicted in recent years of participation in schemes to solicit bribes from or to extort Koreatown businessmen, according to court and LAPD documents.

In Jang’s case, Internal Affairs Division investigators say they wired businessman Kim with a recording device and gave him a photo-mailer envelope and the cash after learning that Kim had been asked to make a $3,000 payment to the veteran officer after his release from jail. At a preliminary hearing, Internal Affairs Investigator Byong Kwon testified he was told by Kim that Jang--who had no official reason to meet Kim--visited him twice in jail and, accompanied by the sister of Kim’s best friend, picked him up upon his release.

During the ride, the woman, Seong Ae Han, said Jang could remedy Kim’s legal problems by paying him $3,000 in cash, Kwon testified that Kim told him.

At Monday’s hearing, however, Kim, testifying after winning an assurance of immunity from prosecution, said he could not recall specifics of the conversation with Han.

“All I remember was the $3,000 would take care of everything,” said Kim, when questioned by Deputy Dist. Atty. Richard Goul.

Later, during cross-examination, Kim said he could not remember whether Jang, who was driving the vehicle, was actually listening to the conversation with Han.

“I would not know,” Kim told defense attorney Darryl Mounger.

During a break in the proceedings, Kim’s lawyer, Ira M. Salzman, acknowledged that the businessman was having trouble remembering details and that some of his answers appeared to contradict Kwon’s previous court testimony.

“He’s very nervous--he’s trying to do the best he can,” Salzman said of his client. “If there’s a difference in recollection, that happens quite often.”

Salzman added, however, that regardless of Kim’s memory problems, LAPD investigators still possess vital evidence. “The important thing is that it’s on tape,” the lawyer said.

The hearing is expected to conclude Tuesday morning.