WASHINGTON: The United States imposed sanctions on Thursday against a network of five entities and one individual for enabling financial transactions between Russia and North Korea, supporting both Moscow’s war efforts in Ukraine and Pyongyang’s weapons programs, according to the Treasury Department.
“Today’s action holds accountable parties that have assisted the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) and Russia in evading sanctions,” the Treasury said in a statement. These sanctions underscore the US’s commitment to dismantling networks that fund North Korea’s illegal weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and ballistic missile programs, as well as Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine.
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller added that the growing financial cooperation between Russia and North Korea “directly threatens international security and the global financial system,” noting that Russia is increasingly reliant on North Korea as it grapples with battlefield losses and international isolation.
The new sanctions highlight how Russian President Vladimir Putin’s administration uses covert financial schemes to assist North Korea in accessing international banking systems, bypassing UN Security Council sanctions.
This action follows a recent meeting between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and top Russian security official Sergei Shoigu, where they discussed deepening strategic ties between the two nations. The US and Ukraine, along with independent analysts, assert that Kim has been providing rockets and missiles to Russia in exchange for economic and military support.
The sanctions target illicit financial operations involving North Korea’s state-run Foreign Trade Bank (FTB) and Korea Kwangson Banking Corporation, both previously sanctioned by the US. One scheme involved Russia’s Central Bank orchestrating a secret banking relationship between North Korea’s Foreign Trade Bank and MRB Bank, based in Georgia’s South Ossetia region. Another scheme saw Russia’s Financial Corporation Bank working with the FTB to recover frozen North Korean funds held in defunct Russian banks.
