U.S. gov't denies any ties with Kelley, key figure in CIA scandal

The U.S. State Department said Thursday that it had nothing to do with South Korea's appointment of Jill Kelley, the Tampa socialite who helped expose CIA Director David Petraeus's career-ending affair, as an "honorary consul."

"She has no formal affiliation with the State Department," deputy spokesman Mark Toner said at a daily press briefing.

Kelley, 37, is a key figure in a growing sex scandal involving Petraeus and Afghanistan commander Gen. John Allen.

She is known to have maintained close ties with the two American war heroes.

The South Korean government has been drawn into the scandal, which has rocked U.S. post-election politics, since the revelation that Kelley has served as an honorary consul for Seoul since early August.

"We don't have a direct role. This is something that foreign governments choose to do," Toner said, adding he is aware that there are "U.S. citizens or permanent resident aliens who perform consular duties, services on a part-time basis."

South Korea has 15 honorary consuls in the U.S., all appointed by the foreign minister.

Their mission is to help promote South Korea-U.S. relations and protect the rights of Korean Americans. An honorary consul gets paid about $2,500 a year, a source said.

Honorary diplomats have no specific privileges or protections under the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.

Meanwhile, a news report said Kelley had claimed connections with the South Korean government with regard to an energy project.

The Associated Press carried a story on Kelley's meeting in August with Adam Victor, president and chief executive officer of TransGas Development Systems, based in New York.

Victor was quoted as saying that she was introduced to him as someone whose friendship with Petraeus would help facilitate a no-bid deal with South Korea on a coal-gasification project.

Victor, however, concluded that she had little to offer in the way of deal-making expertise or connections with Korean leaders, it added. (Yonhap News)