The Australian Federal Police says the man was trying to transport coal and missile componentry out of North Korea to countries including Indonesia and Vietnam, to gathering funds for North Korea.
AFP Assistant Commissioner Neil Gaughan says there is nothing to suggest the governments of any other country played a role in the disscussions
"We stress at this point that there is no evidence, in fact there's evidence to the contrary, that there is no involvement of those governments nor is there any involvement of any officials from those countrys. Obviously trading in that manner is contrary to Australian and United Nations sanctions, and at this stage the AFP will not rule out further charges in relation to those commodity-type offences."
Mr Gaughan says the man was primarily motivated to generate income for the north Korean government from abroad for patriotic reasons.
He would not say whether the AFP were investigating the involvement of any other countries, and would not elaborate on the details of the alleged overseas operations of the man, citing the importance of good relationships with countries in South East Asia.
However, he did reflect on what the charges say about the sanctions impose on North Korea.
"We think he's acting as an economic agent on behalf of North Korea. There's nothing to suggest he's doing anything but that. He's doing it for a patriotic purpose. I think at the end of the day he would sell whatever he could to make money back for the North Korean government. I think it does go to show that the sanctions are biting - the fact that we've got people involved in these type of activities means that the sanctions are having some effect."
For the alleged attempt to trade missile components, the man faces charges against the Commonwealth Weapons of mass destruction act, and he's the first person in Australia to be chaged under the legislation.
Despite the harsh nature of the charges, AFP Assistant Commissioner Neil Gaughan says there was never any risk to the Australian people.
"Now I know these charges sound alarming. Let me be clear we are not suggesting there are any weapons or missile componentry that ever came to Australian soil, nor did we identify any immediate threat to the Australian community. Clearly if we did we would have went overt much sooner than what we did."
The Australian Federal Police says the man, living in Eastwood, has been in Australia for approximatley 30 years, and officers are now talking to his family.
The alleged offences around breach of sanctions carries a possible 10 year prison term, while the alleged offences around the supply of weapons of mass destruction carry a possible 8 year prison term.
