Plan B Watch

According to Yonhap, Treasury will roll out its new North Korea sanctions this week. I am giddy with anticipation. And on a related note, I hope the boys at Treasury are Daily NK readers (or better yet, sources):

The No.39 Department, which is responsible for the management of Kim Jong Il’s private funds, holds the bank account with the British Virgin Islands branch of FirstCaribbean International Bank (FCIB), a prominent bank in the Caribbean region.

According to an expert source familiar with China and North Korea, the No. 39 Department’s secret overseas account exists under the name “Hana Holdings”. It is apparently held with the Road Town branch of the bank, which is based in Barbados and has branches in 17 countries.

Explaining the importance to North Korea of the No.39 Department account, the source told Daily NK, “Due to recent UN Security Council sanctions, the No. 39 Department is experiencing considerable difficulties with its overseas financial trade. Currently, excluding Chinese banks, their only active overseas account is that held with FirstCaribbean International Bank.”

Also, he added, “The only bank through which the No. 39 Department can make overseas transfers is FirstCaribbean International Bank in the British Virgin Islands, since their other secret bank accounts are all blocked.”

As usual, there’s a Chinese connection. One of the Daily NK’s sources, Ken Kato, is a DC-based accountant and activist for the release of Japanese abductees I’ve met and corresponded with in the past. This would be a case of North Korea’s malice reaping severe and unintended consequences. Separately, the Daily NK reports that Bureau 39 has fallen on hard times.