OFAC sanctions additional North Korean shipowners

The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control has added five more North Korean shipping companies and their vessels to its growing sanctions list.

   The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has added five more North Korean shipping companies and their vessels to its growing sanctions list.
   These shipping companies have been involved in various illicit schemes to transport raw materials and other goods into and out of North Korea in violation of UN and U.S. sanctions. The latest companies and their vessels join a dozen others and scores of cargo vessels sanctioned by OFAC late last year.
   The newly sanctioned shipping companies include Gooryong Shipping Co. Ltd., Hwasong Shipping Co. Ltd., Korea Kumunsan Shipping Co., Korea Marine & Industrial Trdg, and CK International Ltd.
   OFAC also blocked six vessels operated by these shipping companies. They include Gooryong Shipping’s Goo Ryong, Hwasong Shipping’s Hwa Song, Korea Kumunsan Shipping’s tanker Kum Un San, Korea Marine & Industrial Trdg’s Un Ryul and Ever Glory, and CK International’s Ul Ji Bong 6. These ships are registered and operate under the North Korean flag.
   The Ul Ji Bong 6, for example, was observed through satellite images taking on a load of coal at North Korea’s port of Wonsan and delivering it to Kholmsk, Russia, on Sept. 5, 2017.
   In addition, OFAC this week sanctioned nine entities and 16 individuals for their involvement in financing and trading schemes with North Korea in support of the Kim regime’s weapons development programs. 
   “We are sanctioning additional oil, shipping and trading companies that continue to provide a lifeline to North Korea to fuel this regime’s nuclear ambitions and destabilizing activities,” said Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin in a statement.
   “As a result of these actions, any property or interests in property of the designated persons in the possession or control of U.S. persons or within the United States are blocked. U.S. persons are also prohibited from dealing with any of the designated parties,” OFAC said.