North Korea: Sydney man, 59, charged with acting as economic agent for rogue state

WITH the arrest of an Australian man accused of trying to sell weapons for North Korea, experts claim the rogue nation has sleeper agents and sympathisers operating across the world.

The AFP have arrested a 59-year-old Sydney man for allegedly acting as an economic agent for North Korea in Australia, in breach of both United Nations and Australian sanctions. Picture: AFP

INTELLIGENCE experts remain perplexed over the alleged actions of an Australian man accused of trying to sell weapons for North Korea.

Chan Han Choi was attempting to broker illicit deals that could have generated “tens of millions of dollars” for North Korea, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) allege.

The man, who police allege is a “loyal agent of North Korea”, has been charged with trying to sell missile parts and technology on the black market to raise money for Pyongyang in a breach of international sanctions.

The AFP said the 59-year-old, who was born in South Korea, was involved in discussions to set up a ballistic missile production facility and the supply of missile construction plans in addition to components, software and the transfer of technical expertise from Pyongyang.

Computers, hard drives and other items were removed by the AFP from the Sydney unit of Chan Han Choi, 59

This is the first time charges have been laid under the Commonwealth Weapons of Mass Destruction Act and for violating UN sanctions against North Korea in Australia.

Intelligence experts can’t explain how the man may have fallen under the influence of the North Korean regime, but said it suggests the rogue nation has sleeper agents and sympathisers operating across the world.

Lowy Institute international security director Dr Euan Graham told ABC’s AM program North Korea relies on informal networks in Australia because there is no embassy here.

“This may have been as good as it gets for Pyongyang in order to fulfil that backroom economic function whether it’s over the table or under the table,” he told AM.

“In this case it appears to have been more under the table ... as an export platform and way of generating hard currency which is always near the top of North Korea’s needs.”

Dr Graham said this also appears to be a one-man operation when he allegedly set himself up as a broker for North Korea, but what took the temperature up was the involvement of missile technology.

Choi has been charged with broking sales and discussing the supply of weapons of mass destruction to North Korea

He said it was unclear how Choi allegedly became swayed and it was complicated because he was originally a South Korean national.

“We’re not sure exactly of the process and what made him a sympathiser to the North Korean cause,” Dr Graham said.

He added there were a small number of these sympathisers and groups and fellow travellers to North Korea who were sympathetic to the regime.

“We’re not talking about a large-scale movement or organised network,” he said.

Professor Greg Barton, from Melbourne’s Deakin University, told the ABC he believed the likely buyer of any technology would ultimately be nation states.

Police haven’t disclosed who he was allegedly attempting to sell the weapons technology to.

“Well historically we’ve seen dealings between Pakistan and North Korea ... but there are many parties that would interested in looking for North Korean technology,” he said.

“There are people in the middle broking on a for-profit basis so at the end of the day there has to be a buyer that wants to use the technology, so the end client is likely to be a nation state.”

AFP Assistant Commissioner Neil Gaughan said the AFP were alleging Choi was a Sydney-based “loyal agent of North Korea”. Picture: Peter Parks/AFP

‘LOYAL AGENT’

AFP Assistant Commissioner Neil Gaughan said the case was “like nothing we have ever seen on Australian soil”, alleging that the man was in contact with high-ranking North Korean officials.

“This man is a loyal agent of North Korea, believing he was acting to serve some higher patriotic purpose.”

The alleged agent’s plans did not involve other governments or officials, police said.

Authorities did not reveal which individuals or entities the man was allegedly trying to trade with.

North Korea is under tough United Nations sanctions aimed at choking off revenue to Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programs.

“This is a very important arrest. The charges laid are of the greatest nature,” Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said yesterday.

“North Korea is a dangerous, reckless, criminal regime threatening the peace of the region. It supports itself by breaching UN sanctions.

“It is vitally important that all nations ... 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.”

Choi allegedly used encrypted communication services to facilitate the attempted trades, which included the transfer of coal from North Korea to entities in Indonesia and Vietnam.

Choi was refused bail yesterday after being arrested in the Sydney suburb of Eastwood on Saturday. He faces a total of six charges, with maximum penalties of up to 10 years in jail.

Police revealed they began looking into his activities earlier this year after a tip-off from a “foreign law enforcement partner”, Mr Gaughan said.

Police would not rule out further charges, and were probing other attempted commodity trades involving oil and gemstones, as well as investigating Choi’s activities as far back as 2008.

Global anxiety about North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s authoritarian government has steadily risen this year, with Washington calling on other UN members to cut ties with Pyongyang in order to squeeze the secretive regime.

— With AFP