The US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control has consolidated its sanctions list, retaining North Korea's nuclear and missile procurement agencies as designated targets. Pictured is US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. [Getty Images]
The US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control has consolidated its sanctions list, retaining North Korea's nuclear and missile procurement agencies as designated targets. Pictured is US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. [Getty Images]

The US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control has consolidated its sanctions list, keeping North Korea's nuclear and missile procurement agencies among its designated targets.

OFAC said Monday that it removed 84 entities and individuals from its sanctions list as part of a modernization effort. Of those, 22 received updated identifying information to make sanctions compliance easier.

OFAC said the removals applied to entities and individuals no longer considered priorities for US national security or foreign policy. Qualifying criteria for removal include deceased individuals, inactive organizations, and those designated more than 20 years ago.

Among the entities that remain on the list is North Korea's Joseon Tangun Trading Corp. Several organizations operating under aliases — including the External Affairs Bureau of the Second Academy of Natural Sciences, Joseon Guwolsan Trading Corp. and Joseon United 2 Trading Corp. — were consolidated under Joseon Tangun Trading Corp. as effectively the same organization. OFAC also added a "government entity" classification to the listing.

Joseon Tangun Trading Corp. is responsible for procuring materials for North Korea's nuclear and missile development programs. The US government and the UN Security Council both designated it in 2009. The company operates under the Second Academy of Natural Sciences, North Korea's advanced weapons research and development body, and procures materials and technology needed for CWMD programs.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in May that the administration planned to modernize its sanctions list, with the goal of clearing outdated information to make it easier for financial institutions to identify sanctioned targets.

A Treasury official told Reuters that the number of sanctioned targets had grown from 880 in 2017 to more than 3,000 in 2024, adding that "the purpose of this action is to make Treasury sanctions effective and sharp."

Last month, the Treasury Department also launched an online portal through which designated individuals and companies can request removal from the sanctions list.


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