hankyoreh

　

Park Il-woo, known as Steve Park in the United States, has been charged with lying to the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation about his role as a South Korean spy. According to an affidavit submitted by the F.B.I. to a U.S. District Court in Manhattan, Park had been giving information obtained from North Korea to South Korea, though he has denied having any contacts within the South Korean government. Park was released on a bail of US$150,000 on July 19 and ordered to wear an electronic monitoring device.

Park is not likely in a position to handle highly sensitive information on North Korea but has been monitored and tailed by U.S. authorities since 2005. According to the court paper, Park met four South Korean intelligence agents working at the United Nations mission in New York and the South Korean consulate a number of times from April 2005 to earlier this month but intentionally hid this fact during questioning. Park was questioned by F.B.I. agents three times between 2005 and 2007; on all occasions Park denied having any contact with South Korean officials, though F.B.I. agents had earlier witnessed a meeting between Park and one South Korean official. The F.B.I. had been keeping tabs on Park by tapping his cell phone beginning in the spring of 2005.

Park is a Korean national, with permanent residency status in the United States. Following the U.S. Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), those who operate as agents for foreign governments must register with the F.B.I. Those violating the act will be punished according to Article 951 of U.S. criminal law. Foreigners holding permanent residency status must also abide by the law, F.B.I. said.

Park went to the U.S. in the 1980s and started doing business with North Korea while engaged in trade with China, making several trips to China and the Korean peninsula. He once imported clothing from North Korea and recently set up a company to try to import North Korean soju, or Korean rice wine. In this aspect, the incident has alarmed South Korean residents in the United States who are currently doing business with North Korea.


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