US Sanctions China-Based Network for Aiding North Korean Missile Program

The hypersonic missile Hwasong-8 is test-fired by the Academy of Defence Science of the DPRK in Toyang-ri, North Korea, in an undated photo by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency released on Sept. 29, 2021. KCNA via Reuters

The United States is sanctioning a China-based network for its alleged role in procuring items for North Korea’s ballistic missile and space programs.

The alleged “procurement network” consisted of six individuals and five entities in communist China, according to a statement by the Treasury Department.

“[North Korea’s] continued development and proliferation [of its] ballistic missile technologies—in violation of U.N. sanctions—is both irresponsible and destabilizing for both the region and the international community,” Treasury Under Secretary Brian Nelson said.

North Korea’s programs rely heavily on foreign-sourced materials and components that it cannot produce domestically.

The Treasury said that the six individuals—Chen Tianxin, Du Jiaxin, Han Dejian, Shi Anhui, Shi Qianpei, and Wang Dongliang—worked to source hardware, including electronic components and metal alloys, for North Korean weapons development. They have been sanctioned under a statute that “targets proliferators of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and their supporters,” the department said.

“The United States remains committed to using our tools to enforce these international sanctions, including disrupting the illicit procurement networks that provide key inputs for these technologies and holding accountable those who seek to enable these activities,” Mr. Nelson said.

The incident is just the latest in a long series of U.S. complaints alleging that China-based networks are actively propping up the weapons programs of authoritarian nations, including North Korea, Iran, and Russia.

In May 2023, the Justice Department unveiled a suite of charges against Chinese citizen Qiao Xiangjiang, including sanctions evasion, money laundering, and bank fraud. The department alleged that Mr. Qiao participated in a scheme to use a sanctioned Chinese company to provide WMD materials to Iran in exchange for payments made through the U.S. financial system.

Charging documents in that case also alleged that the covered incidents focused on the procurement of materials needed for Iran’s ballistic missile program.

In another case in February, the Justice Department charged four Chinese nationals for their alleged role in exporting U.S. electronics to Iran.

Members of the alleged conspiracy were said to have worked for 13 years to smuggle electronic components from the United States through China and Hong Kong for the benefit of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which is designated a terror organization by the United States.

The announcement comes as China, Iran, North Korea, and Russia increase their coordination to undermine U.S. strategic interests throughout the world.

China’s communist leadership, for example, vowed to “firmly support” Iran shortly after the beginning of the Israel–Hamas war in October 2023. Russia has used its power on the U.N. Security Council to veto the renewal of a panel of experts tasked with monitoring for violations of North Korea-related sanctions, making it easier for nations to evade detection. And North Korea has shipped thousands of containers to Russia for use in the latter’s war against Ukraine.

As such, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement that China-based efforts to support North Korean weapons development should be seen as indirect assistance to Russia’s war effort.

“The United States remains committed to using all available means to expose and disrupt the networks supporting [North Korea’s] unlawful WMD and ballistic missile programs and its reckless proliferation of weapons that destabilize the region and enable Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified war against Ukraine,” he said.