Sydney man charged with brokering North Korea missile sales

A submarine missile is paraded across the Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang

A South Korean-born Sydney man was charged yesterday with acting as an economic agent for North Korea in Australia by allegedly attempting to broker sales worth tens of millions of dollars for Pyongyang that included components used in ballistic missiles.

The Australian Federal Police said 59-year-old naturalized Australian Chan Han Choi used encrypted communication to broker sales and discuss the supply of weapons of mass destruction. His actions contravened both United Nations and Australian sanctions against North Korea, police said.

Police said the man was acting to generate income for Pyongyang by arranging the sale of computer software used for guiding ballistic missiles as well as expertise from North Korea to other “international entities.” Police didn’t elaborate.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said he had been briefed by AFP Commissioner Andrew Colvin on the “very, very serious matter” and warned anyone thinking of assisting North Korea that “the AFP will find you.”

“North Korea is a dangerous, reckless, criminal regime threatening the peace of the region,” Turnbull said. “It supports itself by breaching U.N. sanctions, not simply by selling commodities like coal and other goods, but also by selling weapons, by selling drugs, by engaging in cybercrime.”

He added: “It is vitally important that all nations work relentlessly to enforce those sanctions because the more economic pressure that can be brought on North Korea, the sooner that regime will be brought to its senses.”

Despite international sanctions, cash-strapped North Korea last month test-fired its most powerful missile that may be able to target the U.S. mainland.

Choi is facing six charges related to brokering the sale of missile componentry and expertise from North Korea to other international entities, and attempting to transfer coal from North Korea to entities in Indonesia and Vietnam.

Choi didn’t appear or apply for bail in a Sydney court Sunday, and bail was formally refused.

Federal police Assistant Commissioner Neil Gaughan said the governments of Indonesia and Vietnam — or authorities in those countries — were not involved in the coal transfer attempt.

Choi is the first person charged under Australia’s Weapons of Mass Destruction Act and could face a maximum 10-year prison sentence.

Gaughan said the charges related to his alleged activity over the past year, but that allegations dated back to 2008.

Choi was arrested Saturday and charged over two transactions that were unsuccessful. “But we estimate that if these trades were successful, we’re talking tens of millions of dollars,” Gaughan told reporters.

He said investigations were continuing and that more charges could be filed against Choi.

“The AFP are saying this man was a loyal agent of North Korea, believing he was acting to serve some high patriotic purpose,” Gaughan said.

Police started investigating Choi after a tip-off from another international agency on another matter, he said.

“I know these charges sound alarming, but we are not suggesting that there are any weapons or missile componentry that came to Australian soil,” he said. “We’re alleging all of the activity occurred offshore.”

Choi’s activities also involved commodities including oil and gemstones.

“This is black market 101. It’s the same with the coal and oil and gemstones — it’s all about making money for North Korea,” he said, adding the case was “like nothing we have ever seen on Australian soil.”

“Any individual who attempts to fly in the face of sanctions cannot and will not go unnoticed in Australia,” he said. Trevor Marshallsea, Sydney, AP

North Korea marks 6th anniversary of Kim Jong Il’s death

Crowds of flower-bearing North Koreans yesterday streamed passed statues and portraits of their leaders to pay respects on the sixth anniversary of the death of Kim Jong Un’s father, Kim Jong Il. With somber, recorded music playing in the sub-zero air, thousands upon thousands of people marched up Pyongyang’s Mansu Hill to bow and place flowers at the feet of two giant bronze statues of Kim Jong Il and national founder Kim Il Sung. Although the sense of national mourning is less intense than in previous years, North Koreans are expected to avoid drinking, entertainment and inappropriate displays of enjoyment on the day before and the day of the anniversary.

Pyongyang unmoved as world unites against its nuke ambitions

North Korean Ambassador to the United Nations Ja Song Nam

North Korea’s friends and enemies joined forces Friday in opposing its determination to be recognized as a nuclear weapons state and calling on leader Kim Jong Un to negotiate the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula — but the North gave no sign of budging on its nuclear ambitions.

In a very rare appearance by a North Korean at the U.N. Security Council, Ambassador Ja Song Nam told a ministerial meeting that the country’s possession of nuclear weapons was “an inevitable self-defensive measure” to defend the country against “the U.S. nuclear threat and blackmail.”

Ja never mentioned the possibility of talks. Instead, he called the council meeting “a desperate measure plotted by the U.S. being terrified by the incredible might of our republic that has successfully achieved the great historic cause of completing the state nuclear force.”

South Korea’s Vice Foreign Minister Cho Hyun told the council that North Korea is “in the final stages of nuclear weaponization” and warned that if it can put a nuclear warhead on an intercontinental ballistic missile “it will fundamentally alter the security landscape in the region and beyond.”

He urged the international community to grasp the urgency of the threat this poses and find ways to halt the North’s nuclear program — including by maximizing pressure and uniting in answering “absolutely no” to North Korean attempts to be recognized as a nuclear-weapons state.

In his briefing to Friday’s meeting, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres offered his “good offices” to avoid the dispute over the “alarming and accelerated pace” of North Korea’s nuclear and missile program accidentally escalation into conflict.

The U.N. chief warned that “the risk is being multiplied by misplaced over-confidence, dangerous narratives and rhetoric, and the lack of communication channels.” He urged an immediate re-establishment and strengthening of government and military communications. MDT/AP