An Italian animation company has agreed to pay the US Treasury Department $538,000 for “apparent violations” of US sanctions against North Korea by conducting business with a North Korean state-owned animation studio. This marks the first instance of financial penalties being imposed related to sanctions on North Korea’s movie and animation industry.
The Rome-based animation firm, Mondo TV, S.p.a., sent wire transfers through US financial institutions to pay North Korea’s flagship studio, SEK, approximately $538,000 for outsourced animation work between May 2019 and November 2021. To process the payments, SEK utilized “third-party companies” in China and the US that had accounts at “several” US banks.
