US sanctions firm for selling weapons to North Korea and Myanmar
The Chronify
Washington announced Thursday that five individuals and one entity have been placed under new sanctions for allegedly helping finance North Korea’s weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs, as well as facilitating arms sales to Myanmar’s military junta.
The U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control said in a statement that the move targeted North Korea’s prohibited entity Korea Mining Development Trading Corporation and foreign representatives of the intelligence agency Reconnaissance General Bureau, as well as Myanmar company Royal Shung Lei.
The company is accused of arranging meetings in China with North Korean officials to help procure bomb guidance kits, surveillance equipment and other gear.
John Harlle, Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence at the Treasury, said, “North Korea’s illicit weapons programs are a direct threat to the United States and our allies. The Treasury will continue to dismantle the financial networks that sustain these programs.”
Royal Shung Lei’s top executives and an employee have also been placed under the sanctions.
It is worth noting that the Korea Mining Development Trading Corporation is North Korea’s main arms exporter, while the RGB is the country’s military intelligence agency. Both have previously been sanctioned separately by the United Nations and the United States.
The U.S. Treasury stated that representatives of such entities often use front companies and foreign businesses to conceal foreign currency earnings and funnel them back to Pyongyang.
