Mun Chol Myong, Money Laundering, Washington District of Columbia 2023

A North Korean national has been sentenced to 45 months in prison for multiple money laundering offenses in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Mun Chol Myong, 55, laundered funds through the U.S. financial system as part of a scheme to raise capital and acquire goods for North Korea in violation of U.S. sanctions.

Between April 2013 and November 2018, Mun Chol Myong and others conspired to transmit funds through the United States for the purpose of promoting bank fraud. Specifically, the indictment alleged that Mun and his co-conspirators used a network of front companies and falsified transaction records to conceal that the payments benefitted sanctioned North Korean entities and thereby deceived U.S. correspondent banks into executing correspondent banking transactions that they would otherwise have rejected.

The indictment identifies more than $1.2 million in illicit transactions. The indictment further alleged that Mun was affiliated with the DPRK’s primary intelligence organization, the Reconnaissance General Bureau (RGB), which is the subject of U.S. and U.N. sanctions.

Mun Chol Myong pleaded guilty to all counts of the indictment, including one count of money laundering conspiracy, and four counts of money laundering, pursuant to an “Alford” plea, over the objection of the United States.

“This case is significant because the defendant was not merely securing alcohol, tobacco, and other commodities for North Korea, but also providing income streams needed to prop up the regime and finance its nefarious activities,” said U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves. “Those seeking to access the U.S. financial system cannot use front companies, fake invoices, third party payments, and other means to deceive U.S. financial institutions and hide the involvement of sanctioned individuals and entities.”

Mun Chol Myong, a national of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), is the first ever DPRK national to be extradited to the United States. He now faces deportation proceedings.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Tejpal S. Chawla and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael P. Grady for the District of Columbia, and Trial Attorney David C. Recker of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section prosecuted the case.

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