Free Republic

Iran and Russia Discuss Transacting in Crypto to Avoid International Sanctions Molly Jane Zuckerman Iran and Russia could start using cryptocurrencies to avoid Western sanctions, Russian news portal RBC reported yesterday, May 17. Mohammad Reza Pourebrahimi, the head of the Iranian Parliamentary Commission for Economic Affairs, referred to cryptocurrencies as a promising way for both countries to avoid US dollar transactions, as well as a possible replacement of the SWIFT interbank payment system. At a meeting with Dmitry Mezentsev, the Chair of the Federation Council Committee on Economic Policy, Pourebrahimi said that they have “engaged the Central Bank of Iran...

Japan suspects yet another North Korea sanctions breach at sea Reuters Staff 2 Min Read TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan has discovered another North Korean tanker it suspects of transferring goods with a vessel in defiance of U.N. Security Council resolutions, the Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday. It was the fourth time Japan has suspected such an illegal transfer in recent weeks and comes as the Trump administration and key Asian allies prepare to expand interceptions of ships suspected of violating sanctions on North Korea. North Korea last year conducted dozens of missile launches and its sixth and largest nuclear test...

Exclusive: Despite sanctions, North Korea exported coal to South and Japan via Russia - intelligence sources Guy Faulconbridge, Jonathan Saul, Polina Nikolskaya PARIS/LONDON/MOSCOW (Reuters) - North Korea shipped coal to Russia last year which was then delivered to South Korea and Japan in a likely violation of U.N. sanctions, three Western European intelligence sources said. The U.N. Security Council banned North Korean exports of coal last Aug. 5 under sanctions intended to cut off an important source of the foreign currency Pyongyang needs to fund its nuclear weapon and long-range missile program. But the secretive Communist state has at least...

North Korea takes part in the 2018 Winter Olympics would that technically violate UN Security Council resolutions sanctioning the regime over its nuclear and missile programs? Province Governor Choi Moon-soon met with North Korea's sports chief Mun Ung in China and offered to ferry them to South Korea aboard a cruise ship. The International Olympic Committee has also said it is willing to shoulder their expenses.

(2nd LD) S. Korea seizes HK vessel over ship-to-ship oil transfer to N. Korea SEOUL, Dec. 29 (Yonhap) -- A Hong Kong-flagged vessel has been seized and inspected by South Korean authorities after secretly transferring oil to a North Korean vessel in international waters in a ship-to-ship transfer prohibited by the United Nations Security Council, government officials said Friday. South Korean customs authorities took and searched the vessel, Lighthouse Winmore, when it entered the country's Yeosu Port on Nov. 24 after transferring 600 tons of refined petroleum to a North Korean vessel on Oct. 19, the officials said. UNSC Resolution...

Treasury Sanctions Trading, Labor, and Shipping Companies and Vessels to Further Isolate North Korea 11/21/2017 WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) today sanctioned one individual, 13 entities, and 20 vessels as the United States continues to take action multilaterally and unilaterally to disrupt North Korea's illicit funding of its unlawful nuclear and ballistic missile programs. Today's sanctions target third-country persons with long-standing commercial ties to North Korea, as well as the transportation networks that facilitate North Korea's revenue generation and operations. "As North Korea continues to threaten international peace and security, we...

US Customs vows to block imports of seafood and goods from North Korea workers POSTED 10:11 AM, OCTOBER 6, 2017, BY WQAD DIGITAL TEAM U.S. Customs and Border Protection says it is ready to block U.S. imports of seafood — as well as any other goods — produced by North Korean laborers who work in China. An Associated Press investigation tracked salmon, squid and cod processed by North Koreans working at Chinese factories and shipped to American stores, including Walmart and ALDI. The North Korean workers found in Chinese factories aren’t allowed to leave, and receive only a fraction of...

N. Korea runs out of gas; only the elite can now fill their cars By YOSHIHIRO MAKINO/ Correspondent October 4, 2017 at 15:40 JST SEOUL--Only the elite and selected military heavyweights in North Korea can get their cars tanked up as international sanctions start to bite. The regime in Pyongyang imposed the ban on gasoline stand sales in late September, according to a source here who is knowledgeable about goings-on in the reclusive country. The move was apparently taken to prepare the nation for the impact of U.N. economic sanctions to protest North Korea's repeated ballistic missile launches and sixth...

NKorean workers prep seafood going to US stores, restaurants By TIM SULLIVAN, HYUNG-JIN KIM AND MARTHA MENDOZA HUNCHUN, China (AP) — The workers wake up each morning on metal bunk beds in fluorescent-lit Chinese dormitories, North Koreans outsourced by their government to process seafood that ends up in American stores and homes. /snip This means Americans buying salmon for dinner at Walmart or ALDI may inadvertently have subsidized the North Korean government as it builds its nuclear weapons program, an AP investigation has found. Their purchases may also have supported what the United States calls “modern day slavery” — even...

North Korea sanctions rattle Russian, Chinese businesses Vladivostok shuts out infamous North Korean ferry under US pressure TAKAYUKI TANAKA, Nikkei staff writer KHABAROVSK, Russia -- As the U.S. exerts more pressure on Pyongyang, economic exchanges between Russia and North Korea, which the government of Vladimir Putin had sought to use as a diplomatic bargaining chip, are beginning to ebb. In late August, Vladivostok in Russia's Far East suspended service on the Mangyongbong, a North Korean ferry and cargo ship. The ship started service to Vladivostok in May, making one round-trip per week from the port of Rajin in Rason, in...

5 things to know about Trump's new North Korea sanctions BY JONATHAN EASLEY AND REBECCA KHEEL - 09/21/17 05:45 PM EDT /snip “Foreign financial institutions are now on notice that, going forward, they can choose to do business with the United States, or with North Korea, but not both,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told reporters at a briefing on the sanctions. The executive order does that by giving the Treasury Department the authority to suspend U.S. correspondent account access to any foreign bank that knowingly conducts or facilitates significant transactions tied to trade with North Korea. /snip In another move...

Ranking US lawmaker seeks sanctions on 12 Chinese banks over N. Korea WASHINGTON -- A ranking American lawmaker has asked the US government to sanction 12 large Chinese banks as part of efforts to cut off North Korea's access to the international financial system, an informed source said Wednesday. The measures, if implemented, would mark a significant increase in pressure on China to rein in North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile programs. They could also endanger US-China ties. The list, submitted by House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA), includes the world's largest bank, Industrial and Commercial Bank...

Trump Team Prepping Aggressive Options for North Korea by Carol E. Lee and Courtney Kube WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is readying a package of diplomatic and military moves against North Korea, including cyberattacks and increased surveillance and intelligence operations, after the nation's sixth and largest nuclear test, according to senior White House and Pentagon officials. The U.S. may also propose a U.N. Security Council resolution mandating the inspection of ships arriving or leaving the reclusive state, the officials said. The expanded inspections would target vessels carrying missile parts and technology that North Korea exports as well as materials the...

U.S. Seeks U.N. Consent to Interdict North Korean Ships By DAVID E. SANGER SEPT. 6, 2017 WASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Wednesday circulated a draft resolution at the United Nations Security Council that would effectively empower the United States Navy and Air Force to interdict North Korean ships at sea, inspect them to determine whether they are carrying weapons material or fuel into the country, and use “all necessary measures” to enforce compliance. The language is included in a remarkably broad draft that would ban the shipment of all crude oil, refined petroleum and natural gas to North Korea,...

'N. Korea to Stockpile 1Mn Tons of Oil in Preparation of Sanctions' 2017-09-02 12:26:16 Update : 2017-09-02 A Japanese newspaper reports North Korea set a goal in April to stockpile one million tons of petroleum in preparation for global sanctions. The Tokyo Shimbun noted that one million tons is around half to two thirds of North Korea's annual imports of crude oil and related products. The article cited a North Korean figure as saying that leader Kim Jong-un made this decision during a meeting of the state affairs commission. Following the decision, a large number of gas stations reportedly shut...

U.S. claims over 100 Chinese companies covertly deal with N. Korea Among 10 businesses and six individuals of China and Russia, which dealt business transactions with North Korea, the U.S. has decided to levy sanctions and forfeit 11 million U.S. dollars from three companies. Furthermore, Washington is reportedly undergoing investigations into around 100 companies as well. As the U.S. Treasury Department is highly likely to round up a list of businesses that violated the UN Security Council resolutions and announce additional companies subject to the sanction next month, a fierce backlash from Beijing awaits Washington. "There are hundreds of Chinese...

A ribbon of darkness is about to cast its shadow: The path of totality. We’re not talking about talking about Monday’s solar eclipse. The path of totality we’re discussing about is the specter of congressional resolutions to censure or even impeach President Trump. Congress has a lot to deal with: North Korea, government funding, raising the debt limit, health care, tax reform, supposedly infrastructure. But the U.S. Capitol is soon to find itself directly in the path of totality when it comes to the president’s remarks about white supremacists and Charlottesville. The issue will likely monopolize Capitol Hill as the...

In Moscow, Trump Portrayed as Victim of US-Russian Confrontation Publication: Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 14 Issue: 104 By: Pavel Felgenhauer August 3, 2017 09:07 PM Age: 7 days This week (August 1), US diplomatic staff in Moscow evacuated a residence (dacha) and a tattered warehouse complex in in the capital city as part of a delayed tit-for-tat retaliation for an expulsion of Russian diplomats last December and the seizing of Russian country residences (dachas) in Maryland and Long Island. Washington had seized the properties and expelled those Russian embassy personnel as punishment for Russia’s alleged meddling in the 2016 US...

Trump could end China’s economy by sanctioning its banks: Gordon Chang By Nick Giampia Published August 02, 2017 Asia FOXBusiness “Nuclear Showdown” author Gordon Chang on Wednesday said the Trump administration should put more sanctions on Chinese banks, in order to convince them to keep North Korea under control. “Once the president unplugs a big Chinese bank that’s all he needs to do because then Xi Jinping, the Chinese ruler, realizes he’s actually got to come to the party on trade, North Korea, South China Sea, you name it. Because putting Chinese banks into the tank, that’s the end of...

U.S. senators have proposed a bill to increase financial pressure on North Korea and penalize banks and other financial institutions doing business with the communist country. Radio Free Asia(RFA) reported on Friday that Republican Senator Pat Toomey and Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen on Thursday put forward the legislation “Banking Restrictions Involving North Korea Act of 2017” or BRINK Act. The legislation would require the U.S. President to order an investigation into financial institutions doing business directly or indirectly with North Korean banks. Financial institutions which do not faithfully implement sanctions against the North will be denied access to the...