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Man charged with spying for N. Korea
LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- A California man under FBI surveillance since 1995 has been arrested and charged with serving as an unregistered agent of North Korea. John Joungwoong Yai, 59, is accused of operating within the United States at the direction and control of North Korean officials. Authorities say he gathered information and forwarded it to the North Korean government over several years. The arrest comes at an especially tense time between North Korea and the United States. Pyongyang reactivated its nuclear power facilities Wednesday -- what Washington said was yet another example of North Korea snubbing the international community. Yai, a naturalized U.S. citizen from South Korea who has lived in the United States for more than 20 years, was arrested Tuesday by FBI agents. He is also charged with making fraudulent and false statements to a representative of the U.S. Customs Service and conspiring to make such statements. According to a criminal complaint unsealed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, the FBI had Yai under surveillance since 1995. The FBI affidavit says that between December 1997 and April 2000 Yai acted inside the United States as a paid agent for the North Korean government. His job apparently was to obtain classified information and recruit other agents, according to the affidavit. Unregistered agentThe affidavit says Yai communicated with his North Korean bosses in code via fax and e-mail, and by personal meetings in China, the Czech Republic and North Korea. Although Yai was allegedly tapped to collect top secret information, it appears most of the information he forwarded was readily available through news reports and on the Internet, according to the FBI documents. The FBI is continuing its investigation into whether U.S. national security may have been breached by Yai's activities. If convicted, he faces a maximum 20-year sentence in federal prison. Yai's wife, Susan Youngja Yai, is also charged with making and conspiring to make fraudulent and false statements. The government says Yai and his wife traveled to the Czech Republic and Vienna, Austria, to meet with a North Korean representative. On their return to Los Angeles International Airport, the couple declared they were not carrying more than $10,000. A search revealed they were carrying $18,179, prosecutors say. Sums of more than $10,000 must be reported to U.S. Customs officials upon entry into the country.
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