Title 22, Foreign Relations and IntercourseRelease 119-110
§9221 Determinations with Respect to North Korea as a Jurisdiction of Primary Money Laundering Concern
Title 22 › CHAPTER 99 — NORTH KOREA SANCTIONS AND POLICY ENHANCEMENT › SUBCHAPTER II — SANCTIONS AGAINST NORTH KOREAN PROLIFERATION, HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES, AND ILLICIT ACTIVITIES › § 9221
Summary
Requires the Treasury Secretary to decide within 180 days after February 18, 2016 whether North Korea should be called a "primary money laundering concern" — a country that poses a big risk of being used to launder money. The Secretary must talk with the Secretary of State and the Attorney General before deciding. If the Secretary finds reasonable grounds, Treasury must put in place one or more special anti-money‑laundering steps. Within 90 days after making the decision, the Secretary must send Congress a report explaining why, in unclassified form but with a classified annex if needed. Congress took this action because U.S. Treasury officials, the Financial Action Task Force, and the U.N. Security Council have repeatedly warned that North Korea misuses the global financial system. Their concerns include counterfeiting U.S. currency, drug trafficking, selling weapons‑related items, creating front companies, and weak rules at North Korean banks. The U.N. Security Council’s Resolution 2094 (March 7, 2013) urged tighter monitoring and limits on North Korean banks, and Congress urged the President and other countries to act quickly to protect the world’s financial system.
Full Legal Text
Title 22, §9221
Foreign Relations and Intercourse, Source: USLM XML via OLRC
(a)Findings
Congress makes the following findings:
(1)The Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, who is responsible for safeguarding the financial system against illicit use, money laundering, terrorist financing, and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and has repeatedly expressed concern about North Korea’s misuse of the international financial system—
(A)in 2006—
(i)stated, “Given [North Korea’s] counterfeiting of U.S. currency, narcotics trafficking and use of accounts world-wide to conduct proliferation-related transactions, the line between illicit and licit North Korean money is nearly invisible.”; and
(ii)urged financial institutions worldwide to “think carefully about the risks of doing any North Korea-related business”;
(B)in 2011, stated that North Korea—
(i)“remains intent on engaging in proliferation, selling arms as well as bringing in material”; and
(ii)was “aggressively pursuing the effort to establish front companies.”; and
(C)in 2013, stated—
(i)in reference to North Korea’s distribution of high-quality counterfeit United States currency, that “North Korea is continuing to try to pass a supernote into the international financial system”; and
(ii)the Department of the Treasury would soon introduce new currency with improved security features to protect against counterfeiting by the Government of North Korea.
(2)The Financial Action Task Force, an intergovernmental body whose purpose is to develop and promote national and international policies to combat money laundering and terrorist financing, has repeatedly—
(A)expressed concern at deficiencies in North Korea’s regimes to combat money laundering and terrorist financing;
(B)urged North Korea to adopt a plan of action to address significant deficiencies in those regimes and the serious threat those deficiencies pose to the integrity of the international financial system;
(C)urged all jurisdictions to apply countermeasures to protect the international financial system from ongoing and substantial money laundering and terrorist financing risks emanating from North Korea;
(D)urged all jurisdictions to advise their financial institutions to give special attention to business relationships and transactions with North Korea, including North Korean companies and financial institutions; and
(E)called on all jurisdictions—
(i)to protect against correspondent relationships being used to bypass or evade countermeasures and risk mitigation practices; and
(ii)to take into account money laundering and terrorist financing risks when considering requests by North Korean financial institutions to open branches and subsidiaries in their respective jurisdictions.
(3)On March 7, 2013, the United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 2094, which—
(A)welcomed the Financial Action Task Force’s—
(i)recommendation on financial sanctions related to proliferation; and
(ii)guidance on the implementation of such sanctions;
(B)decided that United Nations member states should apply enhanced monitoring and other legal measures to prevent the provision of financial services or the transfer of property that could contribute to activities prohibited by applicable United Nations Security Council resolutions; and
(C)called upon United Nations member states to prohibit North Korean financial institutions from establishing or maintaining correspondent relationships with financial institutions in their respective jurisdictions to prevent the provision of financial services if such member states have information that provides reasonable grounds to believe that such activities could contribute to—
(i)activities prohibited by an applicable United Nations Security Council resolution; or
(ii)the evasion of such prohibitions.
(b)Sense of Congress regarding the designation of North Korea as a jurisdiction of primary money laundering concern
Congress—
(1)acknowledges the efforts of the United Nations Security Council to impose limitations on, and to require the enhanced monitoring of, transactions involving North Korean financial institutions that could contribute to sanctioned activities;
(2)urges the President, in the strongest terms—
(A)to immediately designate North Korea as a jurisdiction of primary money laundering concern; and
(B)to adopt stringent special measures to safeguard the financial system against the risks posed by North Korea’s willful evasion of sanctions and its illicit activities; and
(3)urges the President to seek the prompt implementation by other countries of enhanced monitoring and due diligence to prevent North Korea’s misuse of the international financial system, including by sharing information about activities, transactions, and property that could contribute to—
(A)activities sanctioned by applicable United Nations Security Council resolutions; or
(B)the evasion of such sanctions.
(c)Determinations regarding North Korea
(1)In general
Not later than 180 days after February 18, 2016, the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of State and the Attorney General, and in accordance with section 5318A of title 31, shall determine whether reasonable grounds exist for concluding that North Korea is a jurisdiction of primary money laundering concern.
(2)Enhanced due diligence and reporting requirements
If the Secretary of the Treasury determines under paragraph (1) that reasonable grounds exist for concluding that North Korea is a jurisdiction of primary money laundering concern, the Secretary, in consultation with the Federal functional regulators (as defined in section 6809 of title 15), shall impose 1 or more of the special measures described in section 5318A(b) of title 31 with respect to the jurisdiction of North Korea.
(3)Report required
(A)In general
Not later than 90 days after the date on which the Secretary of the Treasury makes a determination under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a report that contains the reasons for such determination.
(B)Form
The report submitted under subparagraph (A) shall be submitted in unclassified form, but may include a classified annex.
Reference
Citations & Metadata
Citation
22 U.S.C. § 9221
Title 22, Foreign Relations and Intercourse
Last Updated
Sep 22, 2026
Release point: 119-110