Air Koryo (JS, Pyongyang) has begun diversifying its revenue streams as North Korea's international isolation continues to grow amid rapidly deteriorating relations with Washington, Seoul, Tokyo, and even longtime ally, Beijing.
According to Reuters, to help offset the impact of United Nations-backed economic sanctions, imposed in the wake of the reclusive state's recent missile and nuclear tests, Air Koryo has now ventured into the retail market. The state-owned carrier reportedly has its own cola, cigarette, petrol station, and taxi brands whose revenues it uses to sustain operations.
Air Koryo has already been blacklisted by the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and is affected by UN Resolution 2270 which bars all UN member states from selling the DPRK aviation fuel whether or not it originates in their own territory. They are also barred from granting DPRK-registered aircraft permission to take off from, land at, or overfly their respective territories if they are known to contain sanctioned goods intended for supply, sale, transfer or export. Kuwait and Malaysia have already banned Air Koryo from using their airfields regardless of the cargo it is ferrying.
US President Donald Trump is considering additional punitive measures against Pyongyang. Reuters states that other than the military option, Trump is now considering a complete oil embargo on North Korea and a global ban on Air Koryo as part of a wider strategy to subdue Kim Jong-un and his pursuit of nuclear weapons technology.
