LA judge orders bail for man accused of being North Korean agent

LOS ANGELES (AP) A Santa Monica businessman accused of working as a paid North Korean agent was ordered freed on $400,000 bail Friday.

A federal judge overrode U.S. government opposition to bail for John Joungwoong Yai, who has been jailed since his Feb. 4 arrest. The government contended he was a flight risk.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Victor Kenton said Yai, a naturalized citizen, ``has been shown to be of good moral character'' and that his family has offered to secure a bond for his bail ``with literally everything it owns.''

However, he refused a defense request to free Yai on Friday before the bail bond could be posted so that he would spend Good Friday and Easter with his family.

Yai, 59, was born in South Korea but has lived in this country since 1975. He has a daughter at Stanford University and a son who has been accepted into law school.

Yai and his wife, Susan Yai, were charged with transporting more than $10,000 cash into the United States, making false statements to the U.S. Customs Service regarding the cash, and conspiring to make false statements to the Customs Service.

The government, which had spied on Yai since 1995, contends that he tried to recruit agents for North Korea who could be used as ``moles'' in government agencies.

The sandwich shop owner was not charged with espionage, but prosecutors have said that was because they did not uncover any evidence showing he was successful in obtaining or passing on classified documents.

Before ordering Yai's release, the judge said he had reviewed sealed documents and concluded that Yai provided North Korea with publicly available information.

Yai could be sentenced to as much as 10 years in prison on the failing to register charge. He and his wife, who remained free, each face as much as 15 years in prison on the other charges.

Yai's attorney, William Genego, has stated flatly that his client was not a spy, adding that although the government watched him for seven years, read his mail and e-mail, and monitored his telephone calls it could not gain enough evidence to charge him with that crime.

In court papers filed before the hearing, Genego said his client sent information to North Korea in an effort to compensate for the lack of a free press or Internet access there, and that human rights groups have encouraged such actions.

Prosecutors said Yai was sending information to North Korea as late as January. Court papers contend he sent an analysis of the Bush administration's policy toward North Korea that states the CIA was trying to collect information on whether the country had activate a nuclear facility.

(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)