US charges North Koreans in $2.5bn money laundering

WASHINGTON: The US justice department has accused a network of North Korean and Chinese citizens of secretly advancing North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme by channelling at least $2.5 billion in illicit payments through hundreds of front companies.

The indictment is believed to be the largest criminal enforcement action ever brought against North Korea.

The 33 defendants include executives of North Korea’s stateowned Foreign Trade Bank, which in 2013 was added to a Treasury Department list of sanctioned institutions for transactions that facilitated the nuclear proliferation network, and cut off from the US financial system.

Five of the defendants are Chinese citizens who operated covert branches in either China or Libya. Others who were charged include individuals who served at times as the bank’s president or vice-president.