Last week there was a lot of news about North Korea, their ongoing proliferation activities, and the new U.N. sanctions being imposed against them for those activities. In line with those sanctions, the United States Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) placed three (3) North Koreans on the List of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (“SDN List”), thereby implementing the asset freeze provisions of the new U.N. Security Council Resolution. The three individuals designated were Mun Cho’ng-Ch’o’l, Yo’n Cho’ng-Nam, and Ko Ch’o’l-Chae. Cho’ng-Nam and Ch’o’i-Chae are both based in China and serve as representatives of Korea Mining Development Corporation (KOMID). The other parties targeted for sanctioning by the U.N., the Second Academy of Natural Sciences and Korea Complex Equipment Import Corporation, were previously designated by OFAC.

In designating these parties, OFAC relied upon the authority delegated to the U.S. Department of the Treasury in Executive Order 13382 which blocks the assets of, and prohibits dealings with, parties engaged in activities related to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. There are currently 615 parties designated pursuant to Executive Order 13382, the overwhelming majority of them being Iranian or Iran-linked companies or vessels. Although, Executive Order 13382, first issued in 2005 is the primary authority under which OFAC–and in some cases the U.S. Department of State–designates parties involved in weapons of mass destruction proliferation activities, the U.S. has maintained the authority to sanctions parties for such types of activities since Executive Order 12938 was issued in 1994.

Of course it wouldn’t be an OFAC news day without a reference to Iran. In the Treasury press release concerning these three (3) designations they made it a point to note that, “[Tanchon Commercial Bank] 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-sanctioned Iranian organization responsible for developing liquid-fueled ballistic missiles.” Despite last week being all about sanctions on North Korea, Treasury still found a way to work Iran in there. As things continue to heat up with North Korea, I wouldn’t be surprised to hear more about their connections with Iran. Indeed, I wouldn’t be surprised if the P5+1 used Iran’s relationship with North Korea concerning proliferation of missile technology as a justification for not easing certain sanctions that Iran may seek in the next round of talks in Almaty, Kazakhstan. By applying heavier pressure to the North Koreans, the U.S., and the rest of the world, could actually be seeking to increase their bargaining position against Iran. I guess we’ll find out in a few weeks.

The author of this blog is Erich Ferrari, an attorney specializing in OFAC matters. If you have any questions please contact him at 202-280-6370 or ferrari@ferrariassociatespc.com.