The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned eight individuals and two entities allegedly tied to laundering illicit proceeds from DPRK cybercrime and overseas IT work.
“North Korean state-sponsored hackers steal and launder money to fund the regime’s nuclear weapons program,” said Treasury Under Secretary John K. Hurley said in a statement. “By generating revenue for Pyongyang’s weapons development, these actors directly threaten U.S. and global security.”
The new OFAC designees include bankers Jang Kuk Chol and Ho Jong Son, who managed funds for First Credit Bank, a financial institution that had been previously targeted under U.S. sanctions. Some of the money handled by the pair could be traced back to ransomware schemes targeting U.S. citizens, OFAC said.
The office also imposed sanctions on Korea Mangyongdae Computer Technology Company and its president U Yong Su for running IT worker delegations in China that used banking proxies to obfuscate the laundering of illicit funds.
OFAC designated Ryujong Credit Bank for purportedly facilitating payments meant to evade U.S. sanctions.
Five DPRK representatives in China and Russia—Ho Yong Chol, Han Hong Gil, Jong Sung Hyok, Choe Chun Pom and Ri Jin Hyok—were designated for acting on behalf of sanctioned institutions, including Korea Daesong Bank, Koryo Commercial Bank, the Foreign Trade Bank and DPRK Central Bank.
Read more from the U.S. Treasury Department