The Diplomat
Spanish National Police arrested yesterday in Madrid Alejandro Cao de Benós, founder of the Korea Friendship Association (KFA) and special delegate of the Committee for Cultural Relations Abroad of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea for a crime of swindling by allegedly helping the North Korean regime to evade economic sanctions imposed by the US administration.
The National Police’s Fugitive Locator Group received a request from Interpol, at the behest of the FBI, which accuses Cao de Benós of organising the 2018 trip to Pyongyang of Virgil Griffith, a cryptocurrency expert and Ethereum developer, who pleaded guilty last year to conspiring to help North Korea evade sanctions.
Griffith, after being arrested by the FBI, admitted his guilt and agreed to cooperate, so he was able to negotiate a reduced sentence of five years in prison and a $100,000 fine. His cooperation with the FBI opened the door for Cao de Benós to be sued by the US authorities for organising the conferences in North Korea in which the American computer scientist took part.
Cao de Benós served for years as the North Korean regime’s unofficial ‘ambassador’ to Spain, until the arrival of diplomat Kim Hyok-chol, North Korea’s first and only real ambassador to Madrid.
Cao de Benós was also being investigated in the Vendrell examining magistrate’s court for an alleged offence of illegal possession of weapons for which his passport was withheld and he was obliged to present himself weekly to confirm his presence in Spain.
