The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned two North Korean nationals involved in procuring equipment and materials for the country’s ballistic missile program. OFAC said Choe Chol Min, based in Beijing, works with North Korean weapons trading officials, Chinese nationals and others to purchase “a range of items” used to produce missiles. His wife, Choe Un Jong, also based in Beijing, is “officially assigned” to the North Korean Embassy in China and helped coordinate an order for dual-use bearings that are used in the missiles.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week renewed three General Licenses, which were scheduled to expire June 17, that expand and clarify humanitarian-related exemptions for shipments and activities related to Syria, Iran and Venezuela (see 2106180015 and 2206100030). OFAC also updated a guidance on providing humanitarian aid to combat COVID-19.

The process for removing names from Canadian sanctions lists lacks transparency, Dentons said in a June client alert. The firm said Global Affairs Canada doesn’t “provide any material or information providing support for the decision to list an individual or entity,” and so when a person or entity seeks a delisting, the party has “no access to the reasons” Canada “relied on in including the person or entity on a sanctions list.”

Recent U.S. sanctions against an Iranian procurement network and drug traffickers in Mexico signal a trend within the Biden administration toward using sanctions to target “transnational organized crime,” Herbert Smith said in a June client alert. The firm suggested that companies should make sure their anti-money laundering and “know your customer” procedures are incorporated as “an integral part of sanctions compliance” due to the U.S.'s “increasing sanctions focus on transnational crime and money laundering.”

Canada announced a new set of Russia-related sanctions June 10, designating 24 people and 17 entities connected to Moscow’s “theft of Ukrainian cultural objects.” The sanctioned people include employees at Ukrainian museums who collaborate with Russia, and the sanctioned entities include newly created organizations in temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, such as the “so-called ministries of education and culture.” Canada also sanctioned people and entities with ties to Ukrainian-based private military companies that are fighting for Russia.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control will retire its public-facing file transfer protocol (FTP) server next year to comply with updated Treasury Department security policies, the agency announced last week. OFAC said it’s “aware” many people use the server, which will be retired June 10, 2024, to automate their sanctions list data downloads, and is maintaining it for one more year “to allow users sufficient time to develop automation that utilizes the list content hosted on the agency's website.” The agency said users should contact O_F_A_C@treasury.gov for “technical support related to this decision.”

The U.S. this week sanctioned two leaders of the Islamic State group, designating both as Specially Designated Global Terrorists. The designations target Abdallah Makki Muslih al-Rufay’i, a leader of the Iraq-based Islamic State group’s Bilad al-Rafidayn office, and Abu Bakr ibn Muhammad ibn ‘Ali al-Mainuki, a Sahel-based senior leader of the group’s al-Furqan office, the State Department said.

The U.N. Security Council and the U.K. this week removed two people from their ISIL (Da’esh) and al-Qaida Sanctions lists. Sanctions no longer apply to Abd al-Aziz Aday Zimin al-Fadhil and Hamad Awad Dahi Sarhan al-Shammari, who were listed under the U.K.'s regime as Kuwait-based financial service providers for al-Qaida.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned three people and one entity with ties to Mexico’s Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG), a sanctions arms trafficking organization. The designations target two senior CJNG members -- Alonso Guerrero Covarrubias and Javier Guerrero Covarrubias -- as well as Mary Cruz Rodriguez Aguirre, who directs a money laundering network on behalf of CJNG using currency exchange house Nacer Agencia Panamericana de Divisas y Centro Cambiario, S.A. de C.V.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control published previously issued general licenses under its Belarus Sanctions Regulations in three separate notices. The full text of each license is available in the notices.