OFAC Sanctions North Korean Weapons Procurement Agents in Beijing

The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned two North Korean nationals involved in procuring equipment and materials for the country’s ballistic missile program. OFAC said Choe Chol Min, based in Beijing, works with North Korean weapons trading officials, Chinese nationals and others to purchase “a range of items” used to produce missiles. His wife, Choe Un Jong, also based in Beijing, is “officially assigned” to the North Korean Embassy in China and helped coordinate an order for dual-use bearings that are used in the missiles.

The agency said North Korea uses a “network of representatives” in other countries, including in China and Iran, to “illicitly import restricted components necessary to conduct research and development” of its weapons. Those activities violate “multiple” U.N. Security Council resolutions, OFAC said.