South Korean Man Extradited to LA Faces Trial for Plant Poaching
South Korean Man Extradited to LA Faces Trial for Plant Poaching
by Contributing Editor
A South Korean national who was extradited to Los Angeles this week faces trial in December for attempting to illegally export thousands of lotus-like California succulents worth $600,000 in Asia that he and two others had pulled out of the ground at remote state parks.
Byungsu Kim, 45, pleaded not guilty Thursday to conspiracy to knowingly export plants from the United States that had been taken in violation of California law, and attempting to export plants taken in violation of state law, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Kim fled to Tijuana before federal authorities could arrest him last year, then traveled to South Korea. He was later arrested in South Africa, and was extradited to the U.S., authorities said.
Kim — who previously operated a nursery in Vista — arrived Wednesday at Los Angeles International Airport. He was ordered to face trial in Los Angeles federal court on Dec. 8.
Kim and two co-defendants removed the lotus-like Dudleya succulents two years ago, took them to a nursery in San Diego and then transported the plants to a commercial exporter in Compton, planning to use an illegally obtained permit to ship the plants to South Korea, federal prosecutors allege.
Dudleya plants are particularly valuable in Asia for their appearance due to their unique features, including the color and shape of their leaves. Because growing the plants in nurseries takes years, smugglers are known to harvest wild, living Dudleya plants from the ground and export them to South Korea, where they are sold on the black market for as much as $100 each.
Upon his initial October 2018 arrival in Los Angeles on a one-way ticket from South Korea, Kim displayed records stating that his nursery had shipped 5,731 Dudleya plants — weighing 501 pounds — to South Korea, and that the purported “place of origin” of the plants was San Diego County, according to federal prosecutors.
Kim had traveled to the United States from South Korea more than 50 times since 2009, and had 80 plants seized by U.S. Customs and Border Protection in 2013, prosecutors alleged.
After their arrival in Los Angeles, the three defendants drove to various state parks where Dudleya plants grow, including DeMartin State Beach in Klamath, Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park and Russian Gulch State Park in Mendocino County, prosecutors say.
Law enforcement observed the defendants pull the plants out of the ground and then transport the harvested Dudleya plants to the Vista nursery Kim operated, according to court documents.
Officials seized about 3,715 Dudleya plants — weighing 664 pounds — in 34 boxes at the Compton location. The value of the seized plants in Korea would be roughly $602,950, court papers show.
Bong Jun Kim, 45, pleaded guilty last year to a federal charge stemming from a scheme and was sentenced to time already served. Prosecutors say the third defendant, Youngin Back, 46, fled the United States and remains a fugitive.
>> Want to read more stories like this? Get our Free Daily Newsletters Here!
All credit goes to Contributing Editor
Originally published on https://mynewsla.com
