US Offers $15 Million Reward For Info On North Korean Illicit Tobacco And IT Crime Ring

The United States State Department has announced that its Transnational Organized Crime Rewards Programme (TOCRP) will offer $15 million to anyone who gives information leading to the arrests or convictions of seven North Koreans, including Sim Hyon-Sop and six co-conspirators.

Sim and the others have been charged for their role in illicit activities to buy and sell tobacco from North Korea to gain access to US dollars. Sim Hyon-Sop and some of his co-conspirators including Kim Se-Un have also been involved in illicit IT worker schemes.

The revenue generated from these illegal channels raises funds for North Korea’s Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) and ballistic missile programmes, which the US says directly threaten its homeland and violate UN and US sanctions, according to the State Department.

Illicit revenue generation by North Korea reportedly includes cryptocurrency theft, fake IT work, counterfeit goods trafficking, oil smuggling, and other transnational crimes that often target American companies and citizens.

North Korea dispatches thousands of IT workers abroad, often in countries like Russia and China, to carry out fraudulent IT operations.

“The DPRK relies on front companies like Korea Sobaeksu Trading Company and key facilitators to procure materials and generate revenue for the regime’s illegal nuclear and ballistic missile programmes,” said Bradley T. Smith, Director, Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).

“The Treasury, as part of a whole-of-government effort, will continue to hold accountable those who infiltrate global supply chains and enable sanctions evasion activities that further Kim Jong Un’s destabilizing agenda,” he added.

The US Department of Treasury has now sanctioned Korea Sobaeksu Trading Company, which previously deployed IT workers to Vietnam, and three North Korean nationals Kim Se-Un, Myong Chol Min, and Jo Kyong Hun for being part of these illicit revenue-generation schemes.

North Korea’s overseas networks reportedly give the regime access to technology, illicit finance systems, and key facilitators that help fund entities like the Munitions Industry Department and Ministry of Atomic Energy and Industry, both under UN and US sanctions.

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