The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned a network of people and companies in China involved in procuring items for North Korea’s weapons programs, which the country is using to provide missiles to Russia’s military. OFAC said North Korea is relying on this Chinese network to buy foreign-sourced materials and parts that it can’t produce domestically. The companies “consolidate and repackage items for onward shipment” to North Korea, the agency said, and hide the “true end-user” from the manufacturers and distributors of those items.
OFAC
The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) administers and enforces various economic and trade sanctions programs. It sanctions people and entities by adding them to the Specially Designated Nationals List, and it maintains several other restricted party lists, including the Non-SDN Chinese Military-Industrial Complex Companies List, which includes entities subject to certain investment restrictions.
The EU is considering entities to be subject to sanctions if they are owned 50% or more by another sanctioned entity or party, a move that aligns the bloc with the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control’s 50% rule. The announcement is a change from the EU’s previous position on the ownership test threshold, which had previously extended asset freezes to entities only if they were owned more than 50% by a sanctioned party, a law firm said this week.
The U.S., the U.K. and Australia this week sanctioned Russian national Dmitry Yuryevich Khoroshev, a leader of the Russia-based LockBit ransomware group, which the Office of Foreign Assets Control labeled “one of the most active ransomware groups in the world.”
The Office of Foreign Assets Control on April 19 sanctioned two entities for raising funds for two Israelis who were sanctioned in February for attacking West Bank Palestinians (see 2402010053).
The U.S. announced new export controls and sanctions against Iran, as well as new export controls against Russia intended to address Iran’s support for Russia’s drone program, in response to Iran’s attack on Israel on April 13.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control on April 15 issued new sanctions against 12 entities and 10 people for helping Belarus evade U.S. sanctions and support Russia’s “illegal” invasion of Ukraine.
The U.S. and the EU last week announced coordinated sanctions against Hamas by targeting people and entities with ties to the terror group.
The U.S. and the U.K. on April 12 expanded certain restrictions on Russia-related metals, including a new services ban on Russian aluminum, copper and nickel.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned six people and two entities based in Russia, China and the United Arab Emirates for helping to generate revenue or process financial transactions for North Korea.
The U.S. and the U.K. this week sanctioned a Chinese company and two people for carrying out cyberattacks against American and British entities and critical infrastructure sectors.