Court Rules in Favor of Extraditing Taiwan Citizen Suspected of Aiding North Korea with WMD
Harju County Court has approved an extradition request from the US regarding a Taiwan citizen, Hsien Tai Tsai (67), who was arrested in Tallinn last May for allegedly supplying North Korea with machinery that can be used for producing weapons of mass destruction.
The court noted, however, that it did not agree with the US authorities' money laundering charges, thereby blocking the US from imposing those charges at trial. Tsai now has the option of appealing the case to Tallinn District Court, whose decision would be final.
"We are dealing with strategic goods, i.e. dual-use goods which can be used both for civilian purposes or elsewhere - in the military or nuclear industry," prosecutor Eve Olesk has previously told uudised.err.ee.
The Prosecutor's Office said that there is no reason to believe at the moment that Tsai is a high-profile weapons supplier, noting that US authorities may have information that shows otherwise.
Tsai's son, Yueh-Hsun Tsai, has also been implicated and was arrested on the same day in his home in a suburb of Chicago, Illinois. Agents have also been investigating a third Taiwanese associate as well as a network of companies, including US-based manufacturers suspected of supplying North Korea with resources.