The US Treasury has placed restrictions on a North Korean development bank because of its links to the arms trade

The US Department of the Treasury has blacklisted a North Korean development bank because of its links with the regime’s biggest arms dealer.

The Amroggang Development Bank has been sanctioned because it is controlled by North Korea's Tanchon Commercial Bank, based in Pyongyang, which is itself believed by the US to be involved in North Korea’s proliferation activities.

The designation freezes the assets of the bank and prevents US citizens from engaging in any transactions with it.

"As long as North Korea continues to try to evade sanctions and obscure its illicit proliferation transactions, we will take steps to combat that activity and protect the integrity of the international financial system," said Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Stuart Levey.

Tanchon is the financial arm of the Korea Mining Development Corporation (KOMID), which sells ballistic missiles, some of which have gone to Iran, said the US Treasury. “KOMID is North Korea's premiere arms dealer and main exporter of goods and equipment related to ballistic missiles and conventional weapons.”

Tanchon's President, Kim Tong Myong, has also been placed on the Treasury’s sanction list.

Economic sanctions

Some politically risky countries are the subject of financial sanctions and companies will find it hard to acquire financial services in these blacklisted territories. Financial sanctions are imposed by governments or international organisations like the UN or EU to exert pressure on individuals or political regimes. They include, amongst other things, prohibitions on the supply of technical, financial or other assistance. A firm who breaches one of these sanctions may be guilty of a criminal offence. There is no statutory duty on insurers to check their customers off against these sanctions lists, but prudent firms will do so. A list of the countries targeted by financial sanctions is given below.

Afghanistan,
Belarus,
Burma/Myanmar,
The Democratic Republic of Congo, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and Serbia,
Iran,
Iraq,
The Ivory coast,
Lebanon,
Liberia,
North Korea,
Sudan,
Syria
Zimbabwe

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