Australian admits doing deals for N Korea 6park.comGreta Stonehouse and Luke Costin
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© Bianca De Marchi/AAP PHOTOSChan Han Choi has admitted brokering sales for weapons of mass destruction on behalf of North Korea.A Sydney civil engineer has admitted brokering deals to help North Korea export arms in breach of global sanctions.
Chan Han Choi, 62, had previously pleaded not guilty to five charges including two which alleged potential assistance in a weapons of mass destruction program. These two have now been dropped.
He had long denied seven rarely seen offences related to five attempted deals, leading to a NSW Supreme Court trial that began last week.
But on Wednesday the Eastwood man changed pleas for two charges and the jury was discharged. 6park.com
6park.comRetirement Villages Near Sydney Are A Dream Come True 6park.comGet Quote 6park.comAdLuxury Retirement Villages | Sponsored Results 6park.comChoi has now pleaded guilty to one charge of contravening a United Nations sanction enforcement law for brokering a service for the sale of arms and related materiel from North Korea between August 5, 2017 and December 16, 2017.
He has also pleaded guilty to contravening Australian sanctions by arranging the exportation of coal and pig iron From North Korea into Indonesia.
Outside court, his solicitor Mark Davis said they were still fighting missile-related charges.
"Choi has accepted certain facts that have been put to him and he's ready to engage in this process, and we hope for a good and modest result," he said.
"Essentially he's rejecting the military sort of implication, he is rejecting anything being supplied by him to North Korea."
Mr Davis said Choi was in business previously when it was legal to sell North Korean products.
The trial was due to hear evidence that despite being South Korea-born, Choi had "extensive links" to North Korea including making at least seven trips to Pyongyang and an account with the country's First Credit Bank that held $600,000.
"You will see references of him telling people that he has connections to Kim Jong-un, the Supreme Leader," crown prosecutor Jennifer Single SC said in her opening address last week.
"When you look at those occasions where he makes reference to his motherland, it's the crown case there can be no doubt he is referring to North Korea as his motherland."
Also known as Solomon or Sydney Choi, the 62-year-old's bail conditions were continued by Justice Christine Adamson despite the Crown protesting he should be locked up.