US targets entities, persons linked to DPRK's missile program

The Obama administration on Thursday slapped sanctions on entities and individuals with alleged links to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)' s ballistic missile and weapons of mass destruction (WMD) programs. The Department of Treasury blacklisted Daedong Credit Bank (DCB) , its front company, DCB Finance Limited and DCB Finance Limited's representative, Kim Chol Sam, in its latest efforts to cut off financing for what it called DPRK's illicit activities. The department also targeted Son Mun San, the chief of the External Affairs Bureau with DPRK's General Bureau of Atomic Energy who has directed nuclear-related research efforts. The moves bar American citizens from doing business with those targeted, and freeze all of their assets under U.S. jurisdiction. "North Korea's nuclear and missile programs and proliferation activities violate UN Security Council Resolutions 1718 (2006), 1874 (2009), 2087 (2013), and 2094 (2013), destabilize the region and undermine the global nonproliferation regime," the Treasury said in a statement. DCB was accused of providing financial services to the Korea Mining Development Trading Corporation, Pyongyang's premier arms dealer, as well as its main financial arm, the Tanchon Commercial Bank, both of which have been targeted by the United States and the United Nations. DCB Finance Limited, registered in the British Virgin Islands, was used by DCB since at least 2006 to do international financial transactions as a means to avoid scrutiny by financial institutions shunning business with the DPRK, the Treasury said. Kim Chol Sam, who is based in Dalian, China, is suspected of facilitating hundreds of thousands of U.S. dollars in transactions and managing millions of dollars in DPRK-related accounts. The Treasury imposed sanctions on the Foreign Trade Bank, DPRK' s main foreign exchange bank, in March.