The United States Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has designated four North Korean entities for support provided to Pyongyang's weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programme, and the country's sanctioned flag carrier Air Koryo (JS, Pyongyang).
The list of newly sanctioned entities includes Air Koryo Trading Corporation (AKTC), the commercial arm of Air Koryo. However, the sanction on AKTC are not related directly to air transport but rather to "providing, or attempting to provide, financial, material, technological or other support for, or goods or services in support of, Ministry of Rocket Industry (MoRI)". OFAC alleges that AKTC was used as a front for the acquisition of various dual-use goods outside of North Korea and then shipped them back to the country, where they were used for the ballistic missile programme. AKTC was also allegedly involved in acquiring luxury goods subject to export sanctions for North Korean elites.
In turn, the Far Eastern Bank was sanctioned for the provision of financial services to Air Koryo and other North Korean state-owned companies.
OFAC also designated Jong Yong Nam, a Minsk, Belarus-based individual allegedly acting as the agent of sanctioned Second Academy of Natural Sciences (SANS), and Bank Sputnik, a North Korean bank facilitating sanctions-busting transactions in and with Russia.
Air Koryo was first sanctioned by the US in December 2016.
