Edgar Su/Reuters
- A North Korean man has been taken into US custody after a Malaysian court approved the extradition.
- He is the first North Korean citizen to ever be extradited to the US to face trial.
- North Korea has objected to the extradition and cut diplomatic ties with Malaysia for allowing it.
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A North Korean man was taken into US custody this weekend and will stand trial in DC for charges of money laundering and conspiracy.
The man, Mun Chol Myong, is in his 50s and is the first North Korean citizen to ever be extradited to the US to face trial, reported the AP. He was flown from Malaysia to the US and taken into custody by the FBI in Washington DC after a Malaysian court approved his extradition. Before his deportation from Malaysia, Mun and his lawyers tangled with Malaysian courts over whether he should be extradited.
According to The Diplomat, Mun was arrested in Malaysia in May 2019 and has pleaded not guilty to charges that he was involved in a scheme to move prohibited luxury goods from Singapore to North Korea – an action that violates UN sanctions on North Korea. Mun is also accused of laundering funds through shell companies and cooking up fraudulent documents to ensure illegal shipments made it to their destinations undetected.
The Malaysian federal court denied Mun's bid to avoid extradition last week after it refused to accept defense lawyer Gooi Soon Seng's assertions that the charges against Mun were politically motivated.
According to an AP article, Gooi argued that Mun would not be given a fair trial if he were to be extradited to the US, noting that the US did not extradite the three Singaporeans who worked in the same company with Mun. The three were also charged for breaching UN trade sanctions in North Korea.
"That's why we are saying the offense is of a political nature," Gooi said in court documents. Gooi added that Mun was a pawn caught in the rivalry between the US and North Korea, referring to the US' increased pressure on North Korea to denuclearize.
North Korea cuts diplomatic ties with Malaysia over the incident
North Korea strongly objected to the extradition, and cut diplomatic ties with Malaysia for agreeing to it.
As reported in Nikkei Asia, the North Korean foreign ministry said via the Korean Central News Agency, the country's televised state media, that the extradition was a "nefarious act and unpardonably heavy crime" by Malaysian authorities.
The North Korean foreign ministry added in its message that Washington will "pay a price" for extraditing Mun.
ABC News reported that in response to North Korea's termination of diplomatic ties with Malaysia, Malaysia has ordered all North Korean diplomats to leave the country within 48 hours. Malaysian news outlet The Star reported that around 30 people - including North Korean embassy officials and their families - were seen yesterday leaving the embassy compound for Kuala Lumpur International Airport in a bus.
According to an Al Jazeera report, Malaysia and North Korea once shared close ties as North Korea was using Malaysia as an arms exportation hub and a base for lucrative businesses. But in 2017, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's brother Kim Jong Nam was assassinated at Kuala Lumpur Airport when two women smeared a nerve agent on his face. Following this incident, the Malaysian government worked to secure the safe return of nine citizens held in Pyongyang in exchange for the release of Kim's body. It then suspended embassy operations in Pyongyang.