First North Korean National Extradited to the US on Money Laundering Charges
A 55-year-old man has been extradited to the U.S. from Malaysia, making him the first North Korean national to be brought to the states to face a criminal charge, the Department of Justice announced in a March 22 news release. Mun Chol Myong, a North Korean businessman, is charged with laundering money through the U.S. financial system to provide luxury items to North Korea. Mun allegedly defrauded U.S. banks for years and violated sanctions on the oppressive North Korean regime in amounts exceeding $1.5 million, according to recently unsealed court documents. He also was allegedly affiliated with the Reconnaissance Geneal Bureau, North Korea's chief intelligence organization. He made his first appearance March 22 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, where he had been indicted May 2, 2019, on six counts of money laundering. Mun was arrested in Malaysia May 14, 2019.
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For years, the Pacific nation has been skirting global export controls and international sanctions via intermediaries, freight forwarders, private financiers and others to smuggle goods into the country (see 1907160041). “One of the FBI’s biggest counterintelligence challenges is bringing overseas defendants to justice, especially in the case of North Korea,” Assistant Director Alan Kohler of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division said. “Thanks to the FBI’s partnership with foreign authorities, we’re proud to bring Mun Chol Myong to the United States to face justice, and we hope he will be the first of many.”