The U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned Wednesday 16 individuals, nine entities, and six shipping companies that have been linked to North Korea’s development of weapons of mass destruction and other illicit activities.
The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said the sanctions target agents of the Kim Jong-un regime, individuals working in North Korea’s financial networks, and representatives of Korea Ryongbong General Corp., which operates in the defense acquisition industry.
“Treasury continues to systematically target individuals and entities financing the Kim regime and its weapons programs, including officials complicit in North Korean sanctions evasion schemes,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said. “Pursuant to UN Security Council Resolutions, the U.S. government is targeting illicit actors in China, Russia, and elsewhere who are working on behalf of North Korean financial networks, and calling for their expulsion from the territories where they reside.”
OFAC also announced sanctions against China-based Beijing Chengxing Trading Co. and Dandong Jinxiagn Trade Co. for exporting $68 million in goods to North Korea and importing $19 million in goods from January 2013 to June 2017. Additionally, five North Korean shipping companies were sanctioned, along with the North Korean Ministry of Crude Oil Industry.
“We are sanctioning additional oil, shipping and trading companies that continue to provide a lifeline to North Korea to fuel this regime’s nuclear ambitions and destabilizing activities,” Mnuchin said.