Sydney man charged with brokering North Korea missile sales
The 59-year-old man, the first person to be charged under Australia's Weapons of Mass Destruction Act, is also accused of using encrypted communication to discuss the supply of weapons of mass destruction.
This November 29, 2017 image, provided by the North Korean government on Thursday, November 30, 2017, shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, third from left, and what the North Korean government calls the Hwasong-15 intercontinental ballistic missile, in North Korea. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified.
A Sydney man has been charged with acting as an agent for North Korea in Australia by allegedly attempting to broker sales for Pyongyang, including components used in ballistic missiles.
The Australian Federal Police say the 59-year-old naturalised Australian used encrypted communication to broker sales and discuss the supply of weapons of mass destruction.
Police say the man, arrested on Saturday, was generating tens of millions of dollars for Pyongyang by arranging the sale of missiles, componentry and expertise from North Korea to other international entities. The man has been accused of trying to arrange the transfer of coal from the country to Indonesia and Vietnam.
He's the first person charged under Australia's Weapons of Mass Destruction Act and faces a maximum 10-year prison sentence.
Not imminent threat
Earlier US Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis said that analysis continued on North Korea's most recent missile test, but he did not believe its intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) posed an imminent threat to the United States.
"It has not yet shown to be a capable threat against us right now ... we're still doing the forensic analysis," Mattis told reporters at the Pentagon on Friday.
Last month, North Korea said it had successfully tested a new type of ICBM that could reach all of the US mainland and South Korea and US-based experts said data from the November 29 test appeared to support that.
Mattis did not elaborate on what was lacking in the test to show it was not a capable threat.
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