US Targets Arms Trafficking Network And Financial Facilitators North Korea Weapons Programs
The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is sanctioning five individuals and one entity for their role in generating illicit revenue for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) government’s weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and ballistic missile programs, including by selling weapons to the Burmese military regime.
“North Korea’s unlawful weapons programs are a direct threat to America and our allies. At Treasury, we will continue to dismantle the financial networks that sustain them” said Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence John K. Hurley.
This targeted action focuses on overseas representatives of DPRK government agencies who are key to the regime’s ability to finance its unlawful WMD and ballistic missile programs: the Korea Mining Development Trading Corporation (KOMID) and the Reconnaissance General Bureau (RGB), both of which are designated by the United Nations and OFAC. KOMID, also known as “221 General Bureau,” serves as the DPRK’s primary arms dealer and is the principal exporter of goods, including critical equipment for ballistic missiles and conventional weapons. The RGB orchestrates military and intelligence operations for the DPRK regime. Both KOMID and the RGB maintain offices and representatives in numerous countries around the world, setting up front companies to disguise foreign currency earnings, which are then illicitly funneled back to Pyongyang.
Thursday’s designation also includes a key network facilitating weapons deals between KOMID and the Burmese military regime. Since the Burmese military’s February 1, 2021 coup that overthrew the country’s democratically elected government, the military regime has relied on indiscriminate aerial and artillery attacks during its military operations against resistance groups. Consequently, military airstrikes affecting infrastructure—including schools, religious sites, and hospitals—have led to many civilian deaths. Today’s action disrupts these weapons sales to Burma, cutting off an important funding stream for the DPRK regime.
Royal Shune Lei Company Limited (Royal Shune Lei) is a Burmese arms procurement company that first brokered a weapons deal with KOMID for the Burmese military in 2022. In order to facilitate additional sales for KOMID, since late 2023, Royal Shune Lei employee Kyaw Thu Myo Myint and CEO Tin Myo Aung traveled to China to have multiple business meetings with KOMID representatives.
Royal Shune Lei employees also traveled to Beijing to secure visas for a Burmese delegation to visit the DPRK. Kim Yong Ju, the deputy KOMID representative in Beijing, worked with other KOMID representatives, Tin Myo Aung, and Kyaw Thu Myo Myint, to coordinate the sales of two types of aerial bomb guidance kits, in addition to bombs and airborne monitoring equipment, for the Burmese Air Force via Royal Shune Lei. KOMID supplied samples of the aerial bomb guidance kits to Royal Shune Lei for testing and in order to finalize Royal Shune Lei’s order of weapons and related equipment. Aung Ko Ko Oo is a director of Royal Shune Lei.
Royal Shune Lei and Kyaw Thu Myo Myint are being designated pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13551 for having attempted to, directly or indirectly, provide training, advice, or other services or assistance, or engage in financial transactions, related to the manufacture, maintenance, or use of any arms or related materiel to be imported, exported, or reexported to, into, or from North Korea, or following their importation, exportation, or reexportation to, into, or from North Korea. Royal Shune Lei and Kyaw Thu Myo Myint are also being designated pursuant to E.O. 14014 for operating in the defense sector of the Burmese economy. Royal Shune Lei was also designated by Canada and the United Kingdom in October 2024 and by the European Union in December 2023.
Tin Myo Aung and Aung Ko Ko Oo are being designated pursuant to E.O. 13551 for having acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, Royal Shune Lei, a person whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to E.O. 13551, and pursuant to E.O. 14014 for being or having been leaders or officials of Royal Shune Lei, an entity whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to E.O. 14014 as a result of activities related to the leader’s or official’s tenure.
Kim Yong Ju is being designated pursuant to E.O. 13687 for having acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, KOMID, an entity whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to E.O. 13687.
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