Tongsun Park, an urbane, amiable international lobbyist who stood at the center of two bribery scandals separated by nearly 30 years, and who was once a Gatsby-like figure in Washington whose flamboyant parties were attended by lawmakers, officials and the occasional Hollywood celebrity, died on Thursday in Seoul. He was 89.

His death was reported by Yonhap News, South Korea’s major news service, which said he had been admittedto a hospital about a week earlier with an unspecified chronic illness.