From the Sun-Sentinel-

A New Jersey businessman who once served time for conspiring to sell deadly nerve gas to Iran has been indicted for trying to illegally export rocket parts to South Korea, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Juwhan Yun, 68, was arrested two weeks ago at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport and was indicted today on charges of trying to help the Asian country obtain high-tech Russian rocket hardware.

As early as December, Yun tried to acquire advanced rocket propulsion systems and engines, which he planned to sell and deliver to the Republic of South Korea, according to an indictment filed at the federal court in Fort Lauderdale.

If convicted, Yun could face up to 60 years in prison and $6 million in fines. His arraignment is scheduled for Thursday morning at the Federal Courthouse.

Yun spent 39 months in prison after being convicted in 1989 for conspiring to sell 500 quarter-ton bombs of deadly sarin nerve gas to Iran. None of the gas was ever acquired by Yun or shipped to Iran.

The South Korean government, in need of rocket systems, uses a New Jersey business man to acquire the items? Somebody fill me in, or was it reported incorrectly and this was intended for North Korea.-*

Update- An AP article gives more details about the indictment-

In the new rocket case, based largely on intercepted e-mails and phone calls, Yun allegedly was trying to help South Korea acquire a rocket propulsion system — a joint Russian-U.S. system called the RD-180 — through Russian channels. The system was to be used for the Korea Satellite Launch Vehicle 2, according to court documents.

In one meeting in Fort Lauderdale, Yun allegedly told the informant that “he had excellent connections in the government of South Korea” and hoped that the informant’s ties to Moscow would enable the deal to go through. Court documents indicate that South Korea had launched a rocket in 2005 using Russian technology, but the Russians had refused to make a similar deal for the second rocket launch.

Yun said in one e-mail that the Koreans were considering trying to get rocket technology from France, Germany or Great Britain. If the Russian deal could be worked out, he added, Yun was “certain that he and the (informant) could do very good business.”

Yun is a naturalized US citizen.

*- Please note this is Bill writing, not GI. Even when I served in the Navy, I knew nothing about rockets or related technology.