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Friday, February 24, 2006 · Last updated 3:13 p.m. PT

Man arrested in Korean smuggling case

By JOHN K. WILEY
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

SPOKANE, Wash. -- A man who allegedly rented the SUV that picked up a dozen Korean nationals smuggled across Washington state's international border has been arrested and will be returned here to face federal charges, prosecutors said Friday.

Jeong Ho Kim, 38, is named in a 13-count indictment handed up Feb. 7 by a federal grand jury here, charging him with conspiracy to transport illegal aliens and 12 counts of aiding and abetting the transportation of illegal aliens.

A group of 12 Korean nationals were apprehended in a rented Chevrolet Tahoe by U.S. Border Patrol agents near the U.S.-Canadian border in Oroville on Nov. 28. The seven women and five men were destined for the Los Angeles area, First Assistant U.S. Attorney Tom Rice said.

Kim was arrested Thursday by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Los Angeles.

He made an initial appearance in federal court Thursday in Los Angeles, where a magistrate judge ordered him held without bond. Kim agreed to be returned to Spokane to face the charges, Rice said.

The indictment alleges Kim was not in the Tahoe, but rented the vehicle at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and instructed a driver where to pick up the Koreans near the border.

Rice said Korean nationals have been involved in numerous smuggling operations in recent years. He said that in 2004-2005, more than 100 Korean nationals were apprehended as they crossed into the Border Patrol's Spokane Sector, which runs from the Cascade Range to the Rocky Mountains.

In many instances, those who are smuggled in are destined for work in the sex trade, or as manual laborers, Rice said. In this case, it is unclear what jobs the smuggled Korean nationals were to have, but prostitution is not alleged, Rice said.

ICE agents said the investigation is ongoing.

A conspiracy conviction carries a maximum penalty of 10 years imprisonment and a fine up to $250,000. Each count of transportation of an illegal alien carries a maximum penalty of five years imprisonment and a fine up to $250,000.

The 12 Korean nationals in the van Kim allegedly rented were handed over to ICE, which began an administrative process to return them to Korea, Rice said.

"The Department of Justice and this office place a high priority on these cases because of the serious threat that human smuggling presents to our country and the integrity of our borders," James A. McDevitt, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington, said in a news release.

In 2003, Byong Suk Kim, 32, was sentenced to 22 months in prison for vehicular homicide in the death of Song Hui Yim, 38, one of 11 Koreans in a rented van that overturned near Oroville. Kim was the driver and was fleeing from Border Patrol agents when the van overturned.