▲ This photo captured from the website of the Asia Pacific Exchange Association shows its chairman surnamed An (C marked with blue circle) during an international conference in Goyang, northwest of Seoul, in 2018. At his right is Ri Jong-hyuk, vice chairman of North Korea's Asia-Pacific Peace Committee. (Yonhap)

NK remittance suspicion-probe

Arrest warrant requested for activist on suspicion of cash remittance to N. Korea

SUWON, South Korea, Nov. 11 (Yonhap) -- Prosecutors investigating suspected foreign currency remittances to North Korea by underwear maker Ssangbangwool Group and the Asia Pacific Exchange Association (APEA), a Seoul-based private organization, have requested an arrest warrant for the association's chairman, judicial officials said Friday.

The Suwon District Prosecutors Office in Suwon, south of Seoul, asked a court Thursday to approve a pretrial detention warrant for the APEA chief, known only by his surname An, on charges of violating the foreign exchange transactions law and instigating concealment of evidence, they said.

An's arrest warrant hearing is scheduled to take place at the Suwon District Court on Friday afternoon, they added.

An allegedly went into hiding between late September and early October amid prosecutors' investigations into various suspicions involving him but was apprehended in Seoul on Wednesday.

Prosecutors suspect that An was involved in Ssangbangwool's alleged smuggling of millions of U.S. dollars into China in early 2019 and the money probably flowed into North Korea. They suspect that dozens of Ssangbangwool executives and employees took part in the alleged currency smuggling on their trips to China. Under the law, foreign currency in excess of US$10,000 must be reported to customs when taken out of the country.

Prosecutors are said to have recently detected circumstances indicating Ssangbangwool and the APEA delivered US$1.5 million and $500,000, respectively, to North Korea. In addition, they are reportedly looking into whether any funds from Gyeonggi Province, which surrounds Seoul, was included in the APEA money allegedly sent to the North.

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