North Korea's arms sales route to Myanmar revealed by the U.S. Treasury Department. Yonhap News.

The U.S. Trump administration announced on the 25th (local time) that it would impose new sanctions on two North Korean individuals and three Myanmar nationals involved in the illegal sale of weapons to the Myanmar military junta.

The U.S. Treasury Department listed two North Korean individuals – Nam Chol-ung (56) of the Reconnaissance General Bureau, who operated out of Dalian, China, and Kim Yong-ju (41), deputy representative of Korea Mining Development Trading Corporation (KOMID) in Beijing – and three Myanmar nationals as new sanctioned individuals.

The Myanmar-based arms procurement company "Royal Sun Ray" Co., Ltd. was also placed on the sanctions list.

Sanctioned individuals will have all their assets in the U.S. frozen, and all transactions with Americans will be prohibited.

The Treasury Department stated that Kim Yong-ju played a role in supplying guided equipment for aerial bombs, bombs, and aerial monitoring equipment to the Myanmar Air Force, while Nam Chol-ung laundered foreign currency income in Southeast Asia.

In a press release, the Treasury Department stated that this action focuses on KOMID and the Reconnaissance General Bureau, which play a key role in funding the North Korean regime's weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and ballistic missile programs. Both organizations are subject to sanctions by the UN and the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).

In particular, KOMID, also known as "General Bureau 221," is North Korea's main arms dealer and an exporter of key equipment for ballistic missiles and conventional weapons, according to the Treasury Department.

The Treasury Department also pointed out that KOMID and the Reconnaissance General Bureau have set up shell companies with offices and representatives in various countries worldwide to illegally transfer funds to North Korea.

Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence John K. Halley stated, "North Korea's illegal weapons programs pose a direct threat to the United States and our allies," adding, "The Treasury Department will continue to dismantle the financial networks that sustain them."

The State Department, in a statement from Senior Deputy Spokesperson Tommy Pictet, said that one of the goals of these sanctions is to "block funding for North Korea's illicit WMD and ballistic missile programs."

These sanctions, aimed at tightening the financial noose around North Korea's nuclear and missile development, come days after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un expressed his willingness for North Korea-U.S. dialogue, on the condition of abandoning denuclearization.

On the 21st, Kim Jong Un stated at the 13th session of the 14th Supreme People's Assembly, "Personally, I have good memories of the current U.S. President Trump," and "If the U.S. sheds its unrealistic obsession with denuclearization and truly desires peaceful coexistence with us based on recognizing reality, there is no reason why we cannot stand opposite the U.S.," as reported by North Korean state media the following day.

Yonhap News