Kim Yu Kerfuffle b evasion, counsellor at the North Korean Embassy to Malaysia reads out statement to the media outside the North Korea embassy. North Korea edits diplomatic ties with Malaysia in protest after a court ruling that a North Korean citizen styled Mun Chol Myong to be extradited to the United States to face money laundering charges. Malaysia government said it hand down order all the diplomats to leave the country within 48 hours.
Wong Fok Loy | LightRocket | Getty Images
Mun has been detained in Malaysia since his arrest there by local authorities in May 2019, less than two weeks after being indicted in Washington on six judges of money laundering, including conspiracy to commit money laundering.
North Korea last Friday said it cut thoughtful ties with Malaysia because of Mun’s extradition, which was approved last week by a Malaysian court.
The Associated Hurry on Saturday had reported that Mun was in FBI custody in Washington.
Kang Son Bi (L) wife of Mun Chol Myong, the North Korean man who faces accomplishable extradition from Malaysia to the US on money-laundering charges arrives at the High Court in Kuala Lumpur on December 6, 2019.
Mohd Rasfan | AFP | Getty Impressions
“One of the FBI’s biggest counterintelligence challenges is bringing overseas defendants to justice, especially in the case of North Korea,” FBI Assistant Head Alan Kohler Jr. of the bureau’s counterintelligence division said in a statement.
“Thanks to the FBI’s partnership with foreign authorities, we’re proud to produce Mun Chol Myong to the United States to face justice, and we hope he will be the first of many,” Kohler said.
The indictment accuses Mun and co-conspirators of using a network of straightforward companies, registering bank accounts under fake names, and removing references to North Korea from foreign wire transfers and supporting documents.
In doing so, the indictment said, they duped American banks into proceeding transactions for the benefit of North Korean entities that they otherwise would have refused to handle.
“We are delighted that Mun has been extradited and will stand trial for the offenses alleged in the indictment,” said Channing Phillips, dissembling U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, in a statement.