In this courtroom artist’s rendering of a Feb. 7 bail hearing, John Yai’s attorney, William Genego, tries to convince a federal court judge that his client is not a flight risk. Yai listens to the translation of proceedings in Korean through his headset, with the court interpreter standing to his left.
LOS ANGELES — Who is John Joungwoong Yai?
Is he the hardworking, family-oriented Korean immigrant shop owner with close ties to the local Christian community that his family and supporters say he is? Or is he the agent tasked by the North Korean government to obtain classified information on the United States and to recruit other agents, as federal authorities allege?
At this point, there seem to be more questions than answers in the Yai case, which even a federal court judge deemed “unusual” during a bail hearing for the 59-year-old accused on Feb. 7.
Federal Magistrate Judge Victor Kenton denied bond at that time, saying Yai could flee the country if he were released and that the charges against Yai — though short of espionage — were of an “extreme and utmost seriousness” involving national security.
A grand jury indicted Yai, who was arrested Feb. 4 at his home in Santa Monica, and charged him with failing to register as an agent of a foreign government. He was also charged with four counts related to making and conspiring to make false statements to U.S. customs officials about the amount of money he and his wife, Susan Youngja Yai, were bringing back into the country after a trip overseas in April 2000.
The FBI alleges that the money — about $18,000 — represented payments to Yai from North Korean intelligence for his services.
Yai, a naturalized citizen from South Korea who until recently ran a sandwich and snack shop in Santa Monica, is scheduled to be arraigned March 3 in U.S. District Court. He faces a maximum of 30 years in prison.
Susan Yai, an employee of Hanmi Bank, was also indicted on the four customs-related counts and received a summons to appear in court the same day. She faces a maximum of 20 years.
Federal authorities base their allegations on covert surveillance the FBI kept on Yai for more than five years, starting in December 1995. With authorization from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court in Washington, D.C., Yai’s faxes, phone calls and e-mails were monitored. Agents also conducted covert searches of an office he had on Eighth Street in Los Angeles between 1996 and 1999.
Over that time, FBI Special Agent James Chang, the author of the 74-page affidavit supporting the arrest warrant, said agents uncovered evidence and behavior that were consistent with the practices of a foreign intelligence agent. Their findings, detailed in the affidavit, included the following:
• During a search of Yai’s office on April 8, 1998, agents found a five-page document that provided code words in Korean and their translations for such terms as “White House,” “Korea-U.S. annual security meeting,” “nuclear facility,” “recruitment,” “human target,” “military” and “invasion.” There were also codes listed for “Mr. Yai” and for “headquarters,” which the FBI said referred to North Korean intelligence officials. At one point during the investigation, the FBI said “headquarters” instructed Yai, in a typed correspondence, to find a “student inside the church (code for “Washington, D.C.”).” Investigators interpreted that to mean Yai was being tasked to recruit another agent for North Korea.
