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Man pleads guilty to acting as agent for N. Korea
LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- A Santa Monica man accused of working as an agent for North Korea pleaded guilty to federal charges in Los Angeles U.S. District Court. John Joungwoong Yai, 59, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in South Korea, was charged on Thursday with failing to notify U.S. officials that he was an agent for North Korea as required by law, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. "He is accused and has pleaded guilty to acting as an agent for North Korea; he was not accused or charged with espionage," said Thom Mrozek, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles. "In order for us to prove a case involving espionage, there's certain legal criteria that must be met." Yai also pleaded guilty to three felony charges of giving false statements to U.S. Customs Service officials and failing to declare more than $18,000 in cash brought into the country, authorities said. Court documents said Yai worked as an agent in the United States from December 1997 to April 2000, obtaining classified information for North Korea and recruiting other agents to meet with North Korean officials abroad. The documents also said fax and e-mail communications between Yai and his North Korean contacts were written in code to conceal the true content. One of the charges against him stems from an April 20, 2000 incident at the Los Angeles International Airport. According to authorities, Yai and his wife, Susan Youngja Yai, had returned to the U.S. after meeting with a North Korean official in the Czech Republic and Vienna. The couple declared $10,000 but actually carried $18,179 in cash, authorities said. The money was confiscated, but when Yai attempted to reclaim it in August 2000, authorities said he made additional false statements, resulting in other felony charges. Mrs. Yai previously pleaded guilty to failing to declare the $18,179. He was sentenced to one year of probation in September 2003 and ordered to pay a $500 fine, authorities said. Yai was arrested last April and released on bond. He appeared in court Thursday to enter a plea and will remain free on bond until his sentencing, scheduled for Jan. 26 by U.S. District Judge George H. King. In entering the guilty pleas he faces a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison.
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