WASHINGTON – A North Korean citizen was arrested in U.S. custody on Saturday after being extradited from Malaysia on money laundering charges, making him the first North Korean extradited to the United States in will be judged.
Mun Chol Myong was in FBI custody in Washington, DC on Saturday, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press. His extradition came after a Malaysian court rejected his claim that the charges were politically motivated.
The Justice Department rejected the comments Sunday.
A Washington federal judge had issued an arrest warrant for Mun on May 2, 2019 on money laundering and conspiracy charges. Mun, who is in his fifties, has been living in Malaysia for a decade and was arrested in May 2019 after the US requested his extradition. The Malaysian government approved the extradition, but Mun challenged the offer.
His lawyer has said Mun worries that he will not get a fair trial in the United States. They have argued that the extradition has a “political motivation” and aims to increase pressure on North Korea by the nation’s missile program.
Mun has denied allegations that he was involved in the supply of banned luxury goods from Singapore to North Korea in violation of UN sanctions before moving to Malaysia in 2008. He has also denied allegations of money laundering. through frontline companies and producing fraudulent documents to support illicit shipments.
North Korea said it had also ended diplomatic ties with Malaysia over the decision to extradite Mun to the United States in the latest development of growing animosity between Washington and Pyongyang as the north increases pressure on the Biden administration for a nuclear confrontation.