According to the New York Times, the United States Treasury department released a statement claiming the department would take action against the Bank of East Land, or more commonly known as Dongbang Bank. The reason for the sanction, the statement cites, is the fact that the bank had facilitated the North Korean regime’s arms trade deals, more specifically with Iran.
The bank facilitated “weapons-related transactions for, and [provided] other support to, designated arms manufacturer and exporter Green Pine Associated Corporation,” the statement said. This was a move that both the Bush administration and the Obama administration had admitted being an important topic in national security matters.
This move comes as no surprise to many analysts. NPR reported that the US Treasury Department has been the main force behind Obama’s anti weapons proliferation efforts. Last year the Department designated Green Pine, a North Korean arms trade company as an arms trafficker, one of notable repute. According the NPR report, Green Pine, located in Pyongyang had been in contact with the Iranian government intelligence agency called the Reconnaissance General Bureau.
Statement released by the Treasury department on Tuesday singled out the Dongbang Bank due the help it gave to Green Pine avoid anti arms-proliferation sanctions on the Iranian regime, a sanction enforced by both the National Security Agency, and Homeland Security.
A Treasury Department Official reported to the Washington Post, “In 2007 and 2008, Dongbang Bank facilitated transactions involving Green Pine and designated Iranian financial institutions”.
Tuesday’s designation makes it illegal for US citizens or companies to do any business with the bank and freezes any assets it might have in the United States, according to the Treasury official. The official would not comment further, and declined to say whether any assets had been frozen.
The designation was done under powers granted the Treasury by President Obama in an executive order last year, the official said.
The order sanctioned North Korean people and companies involved in trafficking in conventional arms and weapons of mass destruction; procuring luxury goods for the regime; and “illicit economic activities, such as money laundering, the counterfeiting of goods and currency, bulk cash smuggling and narcotics trafficking,” according to Treasury documents.
Late Monday night, President Obama signed another executive order that further expanded sanctions against Pyongyang so that all US imports from the country, whether direct or indirect, will require special authority.
“The order prohibits the direct or indirect importation of goods, services, and technology from North Korea,” Mr. Obama wrote in a letter to congressional leaders accompanying the order. This would severely limit the faltering trade and further burden North Korea’s already dying economy.
According to Reuters, an annual report to Congress from the Central Intelligence Agency said North Korea is one of the most active states in selling technology and components to the Middle East and South Asia that “are dual use and could support [weapons of mass destruction] and missile programs.”
“North Korea is among the world’s leading suppliers of ballistic missiles and related technologies,” the CIA report said.
(아주경제 앤드류 이 기자)
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com