Archive for the ‘Foreign Trade Bank’ Category

Burma-North Korea Ties: Escalating Over Two Decades

Wednesday, July 7th, 2010

According to the Irrawaddy:

A recent New York Times op-ed article by Aung Lynn Htut, formerly a high-ranking Burmese military intelligence officer who defected in 2005 while he served as an attaché at the Burmese embassy in Washington, shed new light on the history of the still murky relationship between Burma and North Korea, two of the world’s most isolated, secretive and oppressive regimes.

Burma broke diplomatic relations with North Korea in 1983, when North Korean agents attempted to assassinate the South Korean president on Burmese soil. But according to Aung Lynn Htut, shortly after current junta-chief Snr-Gen Than Shwe assumed power in 1992, he surreptitiously moved to renew ties with Pyongyang.

“Than Shwe secretly made contact with Pyongyang. Posing as South Korean businessmen, North Korean weapon experts began arriving in Burma. I remember these visitors. They were given special treatment at the Rangoon airport,” Aung Lynn Htut said in his June 18 article.

The junta kept its renewed ties with North Korea secret for more than a decade because it was working to establish relationships with Japanese and South Korean businesses, Aung Lynn Htut said. By 2006, however, “the junta’s generals felt either desperate or confident enough to publicly resume diplomatic relations with North Korea.” 

In November 2008, the junta’s No 3, Gen Shwe Mann, visited North Korea and signed a memorandum of understanding, officially formalizing military cooperation between Burma and North Korea. Photographs showed him touring secret tunnel complexes built into the sides of mountains thought to store and protect jet aircraft, missiles, tanks and nuclear and chemical weapons.

According to Aung Lynn Htut, Lt-Gen Tin Aye, the No.5 in the Burma armed forces and the chief of Military Ordnance, is now the main liaison in the relationship with Pyongyang. Tin Aye has often traveled to North Korea as well as attended ceremonies at the North Korean embassy in Rangoon.

In September 2009, The New Light of Myanmar reported that Tin Aye went to the anniversary celebration of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), held in a hotel in Rangoon. In February, Tin Aye, along with other senior officials, attended the birthday event of the Dear Leader of North Korea at the embassy.

Flights and ships from North Korea to Burma have been carrying more than just Burmese generals. Analysts, including Burma military expert Andrew Selth, say that for years Burma and North Korea have used a barter system whereby Burma exchanges primary products for North Korean military technologies.

In June 2009, a North Korean ship, the Kang Nam I, was diverted from going to Burma after being trailed by the US navy. Then in April, another North Korean ship, the Chong Gen, docked in Burma carrying suspicious cargo, allegedly in violation of the UN Security Council Resolution 1874, which restricts North Korea from arms deals and from trading in technology that could be used for nuclear weapons.

In May, the seven-member UN panel monitoring the implementation of sanctions against North Korea said in a report that Pyongyang is involved in banned nuclear and ballistic activities in Iran, Syria and Burma with the aid of front companies around the world.

According to the UN report, a North Korean company, Namchongang Trading, which is known to be associated with illicit procurement for Burma’s nuclear and military program and is on the US sanctions list, was involved in suspicious activities in Burma.

The report also noted three individuals were arrested in Japan in 2009 for attempting to illegally export a magnetometer—a dual-use instrument that can be employed in making missile control system magnets and gas centrifuge magnets—to Burma via Malaysia allegedly under the direction of another company known to be associated with illicit procurement for North Korea’s nuclear and military programs.

The UN experts also said that the Korea Kwangson Banking Corporation has handled several transactions involving millions of dollars directly related to deals between Burma and the Korea Mining Development Trading Corporation.
 
With this string of events and the suspicions surrounding them as a dramatic lead in, on June 4, Al Jazeera aired a news documentary prepared by the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) which was written by Robert Kelley, a nuclear scientist and former director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The DVB report claimed that the ruling military junta in Burma is “mining uranium, converting it to uranium compounds for reactors and bombs, and is trying to build a reactor and/or an enrichment plant that could only be useful for a bomb.”

The IAEA wrote to Burma’s agency representative, Tin Win, on June 14 and asked whether the information provided in the DVB report was true. Burma, which is a member of the IAEA, a party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and a signatory to the Southeast Asia Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone Treaty, responded with a letter stating that the DVB report allegations are “groundless and unfounded.”

“No activity related to uranium conversion, enrichment, reactor construction or operation has been carried out in the past, is ongoing or is planned for the future in Myanmar [Burma],” the letter said.

The letter also noted that Burma is a signatory of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and the agency’s so-called safeguards agreement. “As stated in the safeguards agreement, Myanmar will notify the agency if it plans to carry out any nuclear activities,” the letter said.

The regime, however, has not signed the IAEA’s Additional Protocol, meaning that the agency has no power to set up an inspection of Burma’s nuclear facilities under the existing mechanism known as the Small Quantities Protocol.

Previously, on June 11, Burma’s state radio and television news had reported the Foreign Ministry’s denial of the allegations in the DVB report. The denial claimed that anti-government groups in collusion with the media had launched the allegations with the goal of “hindering Burma’s democratic process and to tarnish the political image of the government.”

The Foreign Ministry denial also addressed Nyapyidaw’s relationship with Pyongyang. “Following the re-establishment of diplomatic relations, Myanmar [Burma] and the DPRK, as independent sovereign states, have been engaging in promoting trade and cooperation between the two countries in the same way Myanmar is dealing with others,” the ministry said in its statement.

The regime did acknowledge that the Chong Gen docked at Thilawa Port near Rangoon in April. But the statement said the North Korean vessel was involved in importing cement from North Korea and exporting rice from Burma.

But in an article for Asia Times online, Burma analyst Bertil Linter noted that, “if carrying only innocuous civilian goods, as the statement maintains, there would seemingly have been no reason for authorities to cut electricity around the area when the Chong Gen, a North Korean ship flying the Mongolian flag of convenience, docked on the outskirts of Yangon.”

“According to intelligence sources, security was tight as military personnel offloaded heavy material, including Korean-made air defense radars. The ship left the port with a return cargo of rice and sugar, which could mean that it was, at least in part, a barter deal. On January 31 this year, another North Korean ship, the Yang M V Han A, reportedly delivered missile components also at Yangon’s Thilawa port,” Linter said.

Strategypage.com, a military affairs website covering armed forces worldwide, said, “Indications are that the North Korean ship that delivered a mysterious cargo four months ago, was carrying air defense radars (which are now being placed on hills up north) and ballistic missile manufacturing equipment. Dozens of North Korean technicians have entered the country in the last few months, and have been seen working at a military facility outside Mandalay. It’s unclear what this is for. Burma has no external enemies, and ballistic missiles are of no use against internal opposition.”

In his Asia Times online story, Lintner noted that on June 24, the DVB reported that a new radar and missile base had been completed near Mohnyin in Myanmar’s northern Kachin State, and he reported that work on similar radar and missile bases has been reported from Kengtung in eastern Shan State,160 kilometers north of the Thai border town of Mae Sai.

“Since Myanmar is not known to have imported radars and missile components from any country other than North Korea, the installations would appear to be one of the first visible outcomes of a decade of military cooperation,” Lintner said.

Lintner also reported that Western intelligence sources know that 30 to 40 North Korean missile technicians are currently working at a facility near Minhla on the Irrawaddy River in Magwe Division, and that some of the technicians may have arrived overland by bus from China to give the appearance of being Chinese tourists. 

North Korea has also issued adamant denials with respect to allegations regarding its relationship with Burma.

According to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), on June 21 Pyongyang said, “The US is now making much fuss, floating the sheer fiction that the DPRK is helping Myanmar [Burma] in its nuclear development.”

The KCNA often highlights the close relationship between North Korea and Burma.

On June 20, the Pyongyang news agency reported that ex-Col Than Tun, deputy chairman of the Union of Myanmar Economic Holding Ltd., sent a statement cheering Kim Jong Il’s 46th anniversary at the Central Committee of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea.

On April 18, Korean state-run- media reported that Than Tun also issued a statement cheering the 17th anniversary of Kim Jong Il’s chairing of North Korea’s National Defense Commission.

“Kim Jong Il’s field inspection of KPA [Korean People’s Army] units served as a main source that helped bolster [North Korea’s] self-reliant defense capability in every way,” the statement noted.

Military sources said the Union of Myanmar Economic Holding Ltd, managed by the junta, is responsible for purchasing imported weapons for Burma’s armed forces, including transferring money to overseas banks such as Korea Kwangson Banking Corporation.

Meanwhile, in addition to its escalating relationship with North Korea, the Burmese military regime has recently boosted ties with Iran, which according to the UN report is also allegedly receiving nuclear and missile technologies from North Korea.

In recent years, Burmese and Iranian officials visited their counterparts homeland for the purported purpose of improving economic ties. Observers, however, said Than Shwe has made a tactical decision to develop relationships with other “pariah states,” particularly enemies of the US, to relieve Western pressure on his regime.

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Mohammad Ali Fathollahi met Burmese Foreign Minister Nyan Win and Minister of Energy Lun Thi during his trip to Burma on June 15-17.

“The two sides reiterated their desire to further expand the ties of friendship and economic cooperation and to increase cooperation in the regional international forums such as [the] United Nations and Non-Aligned Movement,” The New Light of Myanmar reported on June 18.

Fathollahi’s visit came three months after Maung Myint’s visit to Iran on March 8-11, when he met Iranian Foreign Minister Manochehr Mottaki and Deputy Minister of Petroleum H. Noghrehkar Shirazi.

Read the full story below:
Burma-North Korea Ties: Escalating Over Two Decades
Irrawaddy
Wai Moe
7/7/2010

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Foreign exchange and smuggling again prevalnet in North Korea

Friday, March 26th, 2010

Institute for Far Eastern Studies (IFES)
NK Brief No. 10-03-22-1
3/22/2010

Foreign currency swaps and illegal trade are again prevalent in North Korea, despite recent currency reforms and bans on money exchanges.

Following last November’s currency reform, there has been a significant crackdown on the use of foreign currency and cross-border trade by individuals. However, reports indicate that North Korean traders continue to conduct business with outside entities, despite new regulations requiring them to remit profits through the Korean ‘Kwangson’ Bank. There has been a crack-down on unauthorized transactions, but it appears to have been ineffective.

The Korean Central Bank and Chinese People’s Bank established the Kwangson Bank in 2004 in Dandung as part of the North’s efforts to earn foreign capital. Even today, North Korean authorities rely on the Kwangson Bank to handle trade accounts, but most North Korean traders despise using the bank, and conduct most of their transactions privately, avoiding authorities. This is because the bank has a reputation for seizing the profits of private traders. The official decision to funnel foreign funds through the Kwangson Bank was part of the effort to crack down on smuggling, and was in conjunction with other currency reform efforts.

Economic reform attempts included crackdowns on illegal activity for a short time, but black market currency trade and smuggling has again become commonplace. Reform efforts were aimed at reducing unregulated and illegal trade by requiring transactions to be carried out through a government bank, but the costs associated with such a transaction further encouraged black market activity.

It also appears that currency exchange, banned as part of last year’s currency reform, is now again being allowed in order to ease rising prices and other detrimental side effects of the measures.

In North Korea, not only traders, but also average citizens are earning foreign capital through smuggling and other means. The latest reversal of policy to again allow currency exchange is seen as an attempt by authorities to sooth rising discontent within the masses.

In November of last year, North Korea implemented currency reforms and issued new notes, devaluing the currency by 100:1 and banning private holdings of foreign currency. This led North Koreans to lose faith in the value of their currency and sparked a drive on foreign monies. Now, the government appears to be implementing measures to underscore the value of the Won and to stave off inflation. Foreign visitors are allowed to again spend foreign currency and it appears that other restrictions are slowly being lifted.

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Friday Fun Smörgåsbord

Thursday, January 21st, 2010

Item 1: Koryo Credit Development Bank. This bank is located in the Yangakdo Hotel and is accessible to foreign visitors.  Here are the marketing materials they provide to “encourage” foreigners to set up hard currency accounts: Folder (PDF), Inserts (PDF).

Item 2: DPRK Customs Form (PDF)

Item 3: The Ryugyong Hotel is looking more like a spaceship (Source here. Date: 12/2009)

py-winter10.jpg
Click for larger version

Too bad it will never take off

Item 4: DPRK Transportation. Last September I linked to a collection of vehicles manufactured in the DPRK.  See them here.  This month Kernbeisser posted a great collection of photos he has taken of vehicles on the DPRK’s roads.  Seem them here

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DPRK won exchange rates falling after currency reform

Monday, January 18th, 2010

Institute for Far Eastern Studies (IFES)
NK Brief No.10-01-18-1
2010-01-18

Following the currency reform undertaken by North Korea at the end of 2009, the Chinese newspaper International Herald Leader (國際先驅導報) reported on January 7 that the Choson Bank of Trade had set the USD:DPRK Won exchange rate at 1:96.9. There have been other reports of the DPRK’s new exchange rate through organizations related to North Korea, but this is the first report of an official exchange rate by an official Chinese media source. The International Herald Leader is the global news paper of the government-run Xinhua news agency.

Good Friends, a South Korea-based organization working for human rights in the North, had reported earlier that the new exchange rate was 1 USD:35 Won. The conflicting reports appear to be a result of a constantly changing exchange rate. North Korean authorities control the exchange rate, announcing changes to the exchange rate system at their whim.

According to the International Herald Leader, the exchange rates for the new DPRK Won are 96.9:1 USD, 138.35:1 Euro and 14.19:1 Chinese Yuan. These new rates are approximately 25-30 percent lower than previous rates, indicating a rise in the value of the DPRK Won.

North Korean security forces released a notice titled ‘Regarding the Strict Punishment of Those Overissuing Foreign Currency Within the Republic’ on December 28, and banned the use of foreign currency across the country beginning January 1. Immediately following the announcement of the measure banning the use of foreign currency, the DPRK Won:PRC Yuan exchange rate rose sharply, indicating a steep drop in the value of the Won.

Until the December 28 announcement banning foreign currency, North Koreans were exchanging Chinese money for the new DPRK Won at a rate of 1:5 (the official rate was 1:1.6). Before the currency reform, the Won:Yuan exchange rate was 600:1. However, after the ban on foreign currency, the value of the new North Korean money quickly fell, with the exchange rate toppling 4-5 times over within just days. According to a Daily NK report, on January 5 of this year, the Won:Yuan exchange rate in Hyesan, Yanggang Province hit 20:1, while in North Hamgyeong Province’s cities and towns of Hoeryeong, Onseong, Musan, and Cheongjin, the Won is being exchanged for Yuan at a rate of 1:15. Therefore, it appears that the Chinese media’s report of a 1:14.19 exchange rate reflects the reality of only some regions of North Korea.

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US Treasury Department issues advisory on DPRK’s Kumgang Bank

Sunday, December 27th, 2009

According to the US Treasury Department’s Press Release (h/t One Free Korea):

FinCEN Updated Advisory:
North Korea Government Agencies’ and Front Companies’ Involvement in
Illicit Financial Activities

VIENNA, Va. – The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) today added an additional North Korean bank to its June 18 guidance to financial institutions regarding the involvement by Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (“North Korea”) government agencies and front companies in illicit activities. Based on new publicly available information, Kumgang Bank has been added to the list of North Korean banks. This update amends the FinCEN issuance of FIN-2009-A002, on June 18, 2009.

As further described in the guidance, the U.N. Security Council has called for enhanced monitoring of financial transactions, to prevent the financing of North Korea’s nuclear, ballistic missile, and other weapons of mass destruction (“WMD”)-related programs or activities. The Security Council’s action, combined with the potential that North Korea will attempt to evade these financial measures, illustrates the increased risk that North Korea and North Korean entities, as well as individuals acting on their behalf, pose to the international financial system and financial institutions worldwide.

FIN-2009-A002 can be read here.

Links to previous posts on sanctioned DPRK organizations (US and UN) can be found here.

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UN panel claims DPRK evading sanctions

Wednesday, November 18th, 2009

The UN panel responsible for implementing UNSC resolutions pertaining to the DPRK has written a report (which is not yet publicly available) claiming that the DPRK continues to evade UN sanctions. According to two different Bloomberg stories :

“The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea has established a highly sophisticated international network for the acquisition, marketing and sale of arms and military equipment,” said the report by a Security Council panel established in June to assess the effectiveness of UN sanctions.

The report said arms sales banned by the UN “have increasingly become one of the country’s principal sources for obtaining foreign exchange.” North Korea has used “reputable shipping entities, misdescription of goods and multiple transfers” to hide arms smuggling, according to the report, which has been circulated within the Security Council and not yet publicly released.

North Korean companies and banks that have been barred from foreign transactions are circumventing the prohibition through subsidiaries, according to “indications” from some member governments, the report said. The Korea Mining Development Trading Corp., cited in April for violations of UN sanctions, “continues to operate through its subsidiary companies,” according to the report.

The Kwangson Banking Corp. and Amroggang Development Bank substitute for or act on behalf of Tanchon Commercial Bank and the Korea Hyoksin Trading Corp., the UN panel said authorities in unspecified countries have determined. The U.S. earlier this year froze the assets of the Kwangson and Amroggang banks.

The UN panel said North Korea is believed to have exported arms to countries in Africa, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Latin America. Only a “very small percentage” of North Korea’s illegal arms trade has been reported or discovered, the report said.

An example of attempted trade in contraband was reported in August by the United Arab Emirates, which seized a ship carrying North Korean-manufactured munitions, detonators, explosives and rocket-propelled grenades bound for Iran.

According to Reuters:

The Security Council imposed the sanctions, including arms embargoes, asset freezes and travel bans, in resolutions in 2006 and 2009, in response to North Korean nuclear tests and ballistic missile launches. This year for the first time, it listed eight entities and five people who were being targeted.

A report obtained by Reuters on Wednesday was the first to be written by an expert panel set up by the Security Council in May to vet implementation of the sanctions. It is due to be discussed in closed-door council consultations on Thursday.

The six experts said there were several different techniques employed by the isolated communist state to conceal its involvement.

“These include falsification of manifests, fallacious labeling and description of cargo, the use of multiple layers of intermediaries, ‘shell’ companies and financial institutions to hide the true originators and recipients,” the report said.

“In many cases overseas accounts maintained for or on behalf of the DPRK are likely being used for this purpose, making it difficult to trace such transactions, or to relate them to the precise cargo they are intended to cover.”

The experts said North Korea likely also used correspondent accounts in foreign banks, informal transfer mechanisms, cash couriers “and other well known techniques that can be used for money laundering or other surreptitious transactions.”

On illicit arms shipments, the report raised the case of the seizure of a “substantial cargo” of weapons from North Korea. It was apparently referring to arms seized in August by the United Arab Emirates from an Australian-owned ship.

The report also said the North continued to import luxury goods intended for its leadership, despite a U.N. ban. It noted that in July, Italy blocked the sale of two yachts that police said were destined for North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.

The panel, which began work just two months ago, said it would work on recommendations to the Security Council for further firms and individuals to be put on the sanctions list as well as goods whose import by North Korea should be banned.

It also promised more exact definitions of small arms — the only kind of arms Pyongyang can import under existing sanctions — as well as of luxury goods.

Marcus Noland has cleverly named the strategy of tracking down North Korean military financiers and arms dealers “Wac-a-mole“.

Read the full stories below:
North Korean Global Arms Smuggling Evades Ban, UN Panel Says
Bloomberg
Bill Varner
11/18/2009

North Korea Arms Trade Funds Nuclear-Bomb Work, UN Panel Says
Bloomberg
Bill Varner
11/19/2009

North Korea maneuvers to evade U.N. sanctions: experts
Reuters
11/18/2009

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Treasury blacklists another DPRK bank

Sunday, October 25th, 2009

The US Treasury Department has targeted  the Amroggang Development Bank for its connections with the Tanchon Commercial Bank.

According to Reuters:

Tanchon was previously hit with sanctions by both the United States and the United Nations Security Council for its involvement in Pyongyang’s proliferation activities.

Treasury said assets of Tanchon under U.S. jurisdiction are frozen and Americans are banned from any dealing with it. It said that Tanchon’s president, Kim Tong Myong, also was being added to the list of weapons proliferators.

Treasury described Amroggang as a Tanchon-related company run by Tanchon officials. It said Tanchon helps finance Korea Mining Development Corp’s sales of ballistic missiles and has been involved in Komid’s ballistic missile transactions with an Iranian industrial group.

The US has sanctioned several companies and banks this year (here, here, here).

The UN Security Council has also sanctioned several companies and individuals (here).

Here is a link to the Treasury Department Statement.  Some text below:

Amroggang, which was established in 2006, is a Tanchon-related company managed by Tanchon officials.  Tanchon, the financial arm of the U.S. and UN-designated North Korean company Korea Mining Development Corporation (KOMID), plays a role in financing KOMID’s sales of ballistic missiles and has also been involved in ballistic missile transactions from KOMID to Iran’s Shahid Hemmat Industrial Group (SHIG), the U.S. and UN-designated Iranian organization responsible for developing liquid-fueled ballistic missiles. KOMID is North Korea’s premiere arms dealer and main exporter of goods and equipment related to ballistic missiles and conventional weapons.

A North Korean individual Kim Tong Myong was also designated today for acting on behalf of Tanchon.  Kim Tong Myong has held various positions within Tanchon since at least 2002 and is currently Tanchon’s President.  He has also played a role in managing Amroggang’s affairs using the alias Kim Chin-so’k.

Read the full Reuters article here:
Treasury puts North Korean bank on blacklist
Reuters
10/23/2009

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Golden Jubilee of FTB Celebrated

Thursday, September 24th, 2009

(KCNA) Pyongyang, September 24 (KCNA) — The 50th anniversary of the founding of the Foreign Trade Bank was significantly celebrated in the DPRK.

Established in Juche 48 (1959), the bank has conducted settlement with other countries and financial transactions in a uniform manner as required by the nation’s developing external economic relations.

The bank has boosted its business relations and satisfactorily ensured settlement with banks of various countries, laying a groundwork for developing the nation’s external economic relations including foreign trade.

The bank has further boosted its business capability and improved international confidence as required by the times when the country’s international prestige and economic potential are rising remarkably and made a brisk way into international financial markets, steadily expanding the business relations with various other banks of the world on the principle of independence, equality and mutual benefit.
A meeting celebrating the golden jubilee of the FTB was held in Pyongyang Thursday.

Present there on invitation were delegations and delegates of various countries participating in the celebrations of the golden jubilee of the bank, staff members of embassies of foreign countries here and foreign guests staying in the DPRK.

O Kwang Chol, president of the bank, delivered a report at the meeting.

Additionally: Previous posts featuring the Foreign Trade Bank here.

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US Treasury sanctions another DPRK financial organization

Tuesday, August 11th, 2009

According to the Dow Jones Newswire:

The U.S. Treasury Department Tuesday announced sanctions on the Korea Kwangson Banking Corp., a bank the department says is tied to North Korea’s nuclear and weapons trade.

Treasury alleges that North Korea used the Korea Kwangson Banking Corp., or KKBC, to hide nuclear proliferation activities.

The department accuses the bank of providing financial support to Tanchon Commercial Bank and a unit of the Korea Ryonbong General Corp., both of which have already been identified by the U.S. government as weapons of mass destruction proliferators.

“North Korea’s use of a little-known bank, KKBC, to mask the international financial business of sanctioned proliferators demonstrates the lengths to which the regime will go to continue its proliferation activities and the high risk that any business with North Korea may well be illicit,” Treasury Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Stuart Levey said in a statement.

According to the Associated Press:

The sanctions mean bank accounts or other financial assets found in the United States that belong to the firm are blocked. Americans also are prohibited from doing business with the bank. It is based in North Korea and has operated at least one overseas branch in Dandong, China.

Further information:
1. Here is an earlier post that contains information on other sanctions imposed this year.

2. Aside from the US and UN, China has also “sanctioned” the DPRK this year.  See here and here.  No doubt they will react to the Dandong branch of KKBC as well. 

3. Stephan Haggard Marcus Noland call these kinds of actions “Whac-a-Mole.” Read their analysis here

4. Joshua notes that this company was one of the North Korean banks listed in Treasury/OFAC’s June 18th advisory about North Korean financial institutions engaging in money laundering activities.

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More UN sanctions

Friday, July 17th, 2009

On Thursday the UNSC adopted a travel ban on five North Koreans, an asset freeze on five DPRK organizations (and the five individuals), and banned the export of graphite and para-aramid fiber to the DPRK.  Below are the details:

UNSC Sanctions effective: July 16, 2009.

Officials named:
1. Ri Je-son, director at North Korea’s General Bureau of Atomic Energy (GBAE)
2. Hwang Sok-hwa, director at North Korea’s General Bureau of Atomic Energy (GBAE)
3. Yun Ho-jin, director of Namchongang  Trading Corp.
4. Ri Hong-sop, former director of North Korea’s Yongbyon nuclear research center
5. Han Yu-ro, director of Korea Ryongaksan General Trading Corp.

Organizations named:
1. General Bureau of Atomic Energy (GBAE)-DPRK weapons agency
2. Namchongang Trading Corp-alleged to have procured Japanese vacuum pumps and aluminum tubes used to enrich uranium.
3. Hong Kong Electronics-transferred millions of dollars to Tanchon Commercial Bank and Korea Mining Development Trading Corp., both subject to sanctions by Security Council agreement in April.
4. Korea Hyoksin Trading Corp
5. Korean Tangun Trading Corp-primarily responsible for the procurement of commodities and technologies to support” North Korea’s defense research and development program

Further Notes:
1. The North Korean’s actually have a web page for the Hyoksin Trading Corp.

2. Here is a previous post summarizing most of the sanctioning activites this year.

Read more below:
U.N. council sanctions North Korea entities, officials
Reuters (via Washngton Post)
Patrick Worsnip
7/17/2009

North Korea Officials Sanctioned by UN for Travel, Nuke Program
Bloomberg
Bill Varner
7/17/2009

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