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Attention is focusing on whether the case of Moon Chul-myung, the first North Korean national to be indicted in the U.S. grand jury, will lead to further prosecutions against accomplices. While the court recently approved legal procedures that could be applied to Moon Chul-myung's "accomplice," attention is also being paid to whether other North Korean-related cases will be additional accomplices. Reporter Ham Ji-ha reports.

Federal prosecutors in Washington, DC, who set up North Korean national Moon Chul-myung in a U.S. court, recently received approval from the court to expand the scope of the targets for sharing evidence.

On the 11th, the prosecution requested that the evidence collected in connection with the case be shared with other departments in the prosecution as well as investigative agencies under the Ministry of Justice, and the court decided to approve it on the 12th.

The U.S. Criminal Court generally requires the prosecution to share the evidence collected by the prosecution with the parties to the case, that is, the defendant's lawyer and the grand jury, and this approval allows more federal investigative agencies to use the evidence.

In addition, the Washington DC Federal Court's decision states that the approval will also apply to co-defendants who can join in the future.

It can also be interpreted as meaning that it has left open the possibility that additional accomplices could be prosecuted in connection with the Moon Cheol-myung case.

Moon Chul-myung, who worked in Malaysia for trade, is the first North Korean national to be handed over to the United States in March last year after being indicted in a U.S. court on six charges, including money laundering, in May 2019.

Lawyer Jung Hong-kyun, a former U.S. prosecutor, mentioned the scope of the investigation and the possibility of expanding the subject in a telephone conversation with VOA on the 18th.

[Recording: Lawyer Jeong Hong-gyun] "At the end of this decision, the judge will talk about a potential future co-defendant, that is, an accomplice, right?" It's a nail that applies to them, so we can say that the federal government is probably investigating other potential defendants in this case."

The possibility of prosecution against Moon Chul-myung's "accomplice" is also mentioned to some extent in the grand jury indictment.

The indictment released early last year states that Moon Chul-myung, along with another person whose name was not disclosed, paid at least $20,000 to $130,000 to Singapore-based "Sinsar Trading" eight times from September 2014 to January 2017.

In addition, Moon Chul-myung and others pointed out that they traded in U.S. dollars using several disguised companies, referring to several people who did not reveal their real names as Defendants.

In particular, some Chinese and Chinese companies use the expression "public offering" or "public offering company," and it is estimated that there are people who have already been indicted or are about to be indicted in addition to Moon Chul-myung.

The Moon Cheol-myung case is not the first case in which a U.S. court has raised the possibility of a potential prosecution, that is, an accomplice, in a criminal case related to the violation of sanctions against North Korea.

The grand jury indictment against Virgil Griffith, a cryptocurrency expert who was arrested for visiting North Korea without permission in 2019, said, "Another person already known or yet unknown provided services to North Korea without prior approval."

Other investigation records submitted by the prosecution to the court have confirmed several times that Mr. Griffith had a helper.

Earlier, Griffith attended the Cryptocurrency Conference held in Pyongyang in April 2019 and mentioned that cryptocurrency could be a means of avoiding sanctions against North Korea.

The meeting was organized by Alejandro Cao de Benos, chairman of the Korean Friendship Association, an overseas pro-North Korean organization, and they are said to have helped Mr. Griffith with various documents and connections with North Korean authorities.

The official website, which guides the meeting, also said, "We welcome Americans' application for participation, and there will be no evidence of entry because the passport is not stamped," raising criticism that it encourages violations of sanctions against North Korea.

It is one of the investigation techniques of US law enforcement authorities to prosecute additional persons involved in a specific case after the first prosecution.

It is common to continue further investigations without disclosing the person who has already been indicted.

In the criminal case against North Korean hackers currently indicted by the U.S. Grand jury, only North Korean hacker Park Jin-hyuk was initially subject to prosecution, but two North Korean hackers have been added since then.

In February 2020, the U.S. prosecution indicted 28 North Koreans and 5 Chinese who worked at Chosun Trade Bank or disguised companies of banks, including Ko Cheol-man and Kim Sung-eun, vice-bank presidents Han Woong and Li Jeong-nam, on charges of violating sanctions and money laundering.

And in September of that year, the U.S. court additionally indicted North Korean nationals Li Jeong-cheol, Li Yoo-kyung, and Malaysian Gan Chi-rim on charges of violating sanctions against North Korea, financial fraud, and money laundering conspiracy.

I'm Ham Jiha from VOA News.

출처 : VOA한국