Korean Faces Charges Related to Espionage

A federal grand jury in Los Angeles indicted a Korean American businessman Tuesday on charges stemming from his alleged attempts to secure U.S. government secrets on behalf of North Korea.

John Joungwoong Yai, 59, was charged with failing to register as an agent of a foreign government, along with four other counts of making false statements to the U.S. Customs Service and transporting more than $10,000 in currency into the United States.

Yai, who is being held without bond, faces a potential 30 years in prison if convicted on all counts. He is to be arraigned March 3 in U.S. District Court.

Yai, a 20-year resident of the U.S., was arrested without incident by FBI agents Feb. 5 at his Santa Monica townhome.

At a bond hearing two days later, an FBI agent testified that Yai had admitted receiving $20,000 in cash from North Korean intelligence officers during a 2000 visit to Prague.

Agent James Chang also testified that Yai had admitted receiving $2,000 to $5,000 from North Korean officials on each of five visits to that country.

While he had not yet seen the indictment, Yai’s attorney, William Genego, said Tuesday that he was not surprised that a grand jury had indicted Yai on essentially the same charges that earlier led to his arrest on a criminal complaint.

He said that, at trial, the authorities will “have to convince a jury that my client was an agent of North Korea, and I don’t think they will be able to do it.”

While authorities have charged Yai violated the law by not registering as a foreign agent, Genego said there are no such requirements for anyone engaged in commercial transactions with another government, so long as there is no illegal exchange of information.

Noting that federal authorities had Yai under investigation for seven years, Genego questioned whether the indictment was a byproduct of the current U.S. tensions with North Korea.

“The timing of it is certainly curious,” he said. “They have been following him and covertly listening to him for years.

“And now, after all this time, they arrest and charge him ... for an offense that allegedly occurred 2 1/2 years ago.”

Yai’s wife, Susan Youngja, also was charged in Tuesday’s indictment with making false statements to customs officials and transporting more than $10,000 in cash into the United States.

She will be summoned for arraignment on the same day as her husband.