Moon Cheol-myung, a North Korean national who was arrested in Malaysia on charges including money laundering related to North Korea and was the first to be extradited to the United States, was sentenced to 45 months in prison on the 20th (local time).
The U.S. Department of Justice announced this decision through a press release on the same day from the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. The Department of Justice stated, "Moon Cheol-myung violated U.S. sanctions and laundered money through the U.S. financial system to procure goods for North Korea," adding, "According to the indictment, illegal transactions exceeding $1.2 million (approximately 1.48 billion KRW) were uncovered."
Voice of America (VOA) reported that this sentence accounts for the time Moon Cheol-myung had been held in detention as of May 2019. It also added that Moon is expected to remain in custody as deportation procedures proceed. The outlet said, "Moon Cheol-myung should be repatriated to North Korea, but since there are no diplomatic relations between the U.S. and North Korea, this is expected to be difficult," and "Moon is reportedly hoping to be deported to China, where his wife and daughter reside, but whether he can go to a third country remains to be seen."
Previously, Moon was indicted in May 2019 on charges of illegally accessing the U.S. financial system from April 2013 to November 2018, violating U.S. sanctions against North Korea and engaging in money laundering.
At the time of Moon’s extradition, the U.S. Department of Justice released a statement revealing that Moon was connected to North Korea’s Reconnaissance General Bureau and that the purpose of the money laundering was to supply luxury goods to North Korea. Moon was arrested in Malaysia in June 2019 at the request of the U.S. government. He was then extradited to the United States in March 2021, becoming the first North Korean national to be sent there.
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