United States Department of State, through the Transnational Organized Crime Rewards Program (TOCRP), today announced a reward offer of up to $5,000,000 for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) national Sim Hyon-Sop.
The State Department said in a statement released by its Spokesperson, Matthew Miller that the US was also offering separate reward offers of up to $500,000 each for information leading to the arrests and/or convictions of People’s Republic of China (PRC) nationals Han Linlin and Qin Gouming.
As part of a whole-of-government action, these three individuals were charged by the Department of Justice with various criminal offenses, and Sim was sanctioned by the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, the State Department said.
According to the Department of Justice’s indictment, Qin, Han, and Sim used multiple front companies to purchase tobacco products and other goods for North Korean customers and laundered U.S. dollars for these shipments, it further stated.
The remaining part of the statement reads: The tobacco imported by Qin, Han, and others into the DPRK was used to manufacture counterfeit cigarettes, the sales of which benefitted the DPRK regime.
Additionally, the United States, in close coordination with the Republic of Korea, has also sanctioned three individuals: Wu Huihui, Cheng Hung Man, and the aforementioned Sim, for providing support to the DPRK’s network of illicit financing and malicious cyber activities.
The DPRK malicious cyber actors target companies around the world to steal money for Pyongyang’s unlawful weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs. The United States will continue to act to prevent DPRK activities that threaten regional and international peace and security.
We also remain committed to working with our close partners and allies to disrupt the DPRK’s illicit financial and revenue generating activities worldwide.
This sanctions action was taken pursuant to Executive Order 13722, which prohibits certain transactions with respect to the DPRK, and Executive Order 13382, which targets proliferators of WMD and their supporters.
For more information about this designation, please see the Department of the Treasury’s press release . For more information on the rewards program, visit the Transnational Organized Crime Rewards Program home page.
