May 18, 2016
North Korea has adopted a new law that prohibits money laundering and financing terrorism, the Korean Central News Agency reported on Tuesday, indicating its desire to join the international anti-money laundering organization.
The Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly declared the law, composed of six chapters with 40 articles, to be in effect. Its clauses include those on verification of customers’ data, building an internal reporting system for suspicious transactions and establishing an institution which supervises the process.
Experts said it appears North Korea is trying to achieve full membership in the Asia Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG), a regional body of the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF). Pyongyang joined the organization as an observer in July 2014, but was blacklisted by FATF with Iran.