First trial of extradited North Korean businessman

A North Korean businessman Mun Chol Myong attended the court in Washington, D.C. for the first time on Monday (local time) after being extradited to the U.S. from Malaysia on charges of illegal money laundering and more. The U.S. Department of Justice announced that the Reconnaissance General Bureau of North Korea is also involved in illegally laundering or trading more than 1.5 million dollars. 　

“After nearly two years of legal proceedings, Mun Chol Myong (Mun), 55, a national of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), has been extradited to the United States. This case represents the first ever extradition to the United States of a DPRK national,” said the Justice Department in a press release. It said Mun faces six counts of money laundering. 　

The press release said Mun used the U.S. financial system as part of a scheme to provide luxury items to North Korea and transferred money with bank accounts registered to false names and front companies from April 2013 to November 2018. Through this process, he traded more than 1.5 million U.S. dollars through banks connected to the U.S. financial system. The department believes that his activities are related to the Reconnaissance General Bureau, to which sanctions are imposed by the U.S. and the United Nations. “We hope he will be the first of many (that will be brought to the U.S.),” said Assistant Director Alan E. Kohler of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division.


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