I 
116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 4084 
To impose sanctions with respect to the Democratic People’s Republic of 
Korea, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 26, 2019 
Mr. BARR (for himself and Mr. STIVERS) introduced the following bill; which 
was referred to the Committee on Financial Services 
A BILL 
To impose sanctions with respect to the Democratic People’s 
Republic of Korea, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Otto Warmbier North 
Korea Nuclear Sanctions Act of 2019’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds the following: 
(1) On June 1, 2016, the Department of the 
Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network 
announced a Notice of Finding that the Democratic 
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People’s Republic of Korea is a jurisdiction of pri-
mary money laundering concern due to its use of 
state-controlled financial institutions and front com-
panies to support the proliferation and development 
of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and ballistic 
missiles. 
(2) The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) 
has expressed serious concerns with the threat posed 
by North Korea’s proliferation and financing of 
WMD, and has called on FATF members to apply 
effective counter-measures to protect their financial 
sectors from North Korean money laundering, WMD 
proliferation financing, and the financing of ter-
rorism. 
(3) In its February 2017 report, the U.N. 
Panel of Experts concluded that— 
(A) North Korea continued to access the 
international financial system in support of il-
licit activities despite sanctions imposed by 
U.N. Security Council Resolutions 2270 (2016) 
and 2321 (2016); 
(B) during the reporting period, no mem-
ber state had reported taking actions to freeze 
North Korean assets; and 
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(C) sanctions evasion by North Korea, 
combined with inadequate compliance by mem-
ber states, had significantly negated the impact 
of U.N. Security Council resolutions. 
(4) In its September 2017 report, the U.N. 
Panel of Experts found that— 
(A) North Korea continued to violate fi-
nancial sanctions by using agents acting abroad 
on the country’s behalf; 
(B) foreign financial institutions provided 
correspondent banking services to North Ko-
rean persons and front companies for illicit pur-
poses; 
(C) foreign companies violated sanctions by 
maintaining links with North Korean financial 
institutions; and 
(D) North Korea generated at least $270 
million during the reporting period through the 
violation of sectoral sanctions. 
(5) North Korean entities engage in significant 
financial transactions through foreign bank accounts 
that are maintained by non-North Korean nationals, 
thereby masking account users’ identity in order to 
access financial services. 
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(6) North Korea’s sixth nuclear test on Sep-
tember 3, 2017, demonstrated an estimated explo-
sive power more than 100 times greater than that 
generated by its first nuclear test in 2006. 
(7) On February 23, 2018, the Department of 
the Treasury announced its largest-ever set of North 
Korea-related sanctions, with a particular focus on 
shipping and trading companies, and issued a mari-
time advisory to highlight North Korea’s sanctions 
evasion tactics. On May 9, 2019, the United States 
seized a North Korean ship, the Wise Honest, which 
had previously been detained by Indonesia for car-
rying coal in violation of United Nations sanctions. 
(8) According to the March 2019 Final Report 
of the U.N. Panel of Experts, ‘‘The nuclear and bal-
listic missile programmes of the Democratic People’s 
Republic of Korea remain intact and the country 
continues to defy Security Council resolutions 
through a massive increase in illegal ship-to-ship 
transfers of petroleum products and coal. These vio-
lations render the latest United Nations sanctions 
ineffective by flouting the caps on the import of pe-
troleum products and crude oil by the Democratic 
People’s Republic of Korea as well as the coal ban, 
imposed in 2017 by the Security Council in response 
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to the country’s unprecedented nuclear and ballistic 
missile testing.’’. 
(9) The U.N. Panel of Experts further con-
cluded: ‘‘Financial sanctions remain some of the 
most poorly implemented and actively evaded meas-
ures of the sanctions regime. Individuals empowered 
to act as extensions of financial institutions of the 
Democratic People’s Republic of Korea operate in at 
least five countries with seeming impunity.’’. 
(10) North Korea has successfully tested short- 
range, submarine-launched, and intercontinental bal-
listic missiles, and is rapidly progressing in its devel-
opment of a nuclear-armed missile that is capable of 
reaching United States territory. 
SEC. 3. CONDITIONS WITH RESPECT TO CERTAIN AC-
COUNTS AND TRANSACTIONS AT UNITED 
STATES FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS. 
(a) CORRESPONDENT AND PAYABLE-THROUGH AC-
COUNTS HELD BY FOREIGN FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS.— 
(1) IN
GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec-
retary of the Treasury shall prescribe regulations to 
prohibit, or impose strict conditions on, the opening 
or maintaining in the United States of a cor-
respondent account or a payable-through account by 
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a foreign financial institution that the Secretary 
finds knowingly facilitates a significant transaction 
or provides significant financial services for a cov-
ered person. 
(2) PENALTIES.— 
(A) CIVIL PENALTY.—A person who vio-
lates, attempts to violate, conspires to violate, 
or causes a violation of regulations prescribed 
under this subsection shall be subject to a civil 
penalty in an amount not to exceed the greater 
of— 
(i) $250,000; or 
(ii) an amount that is twice the 
amount of the transaction that is the basis 
of the violation with respect to which the 
penalty is imposed. 
(B) CRIMINAL PENALTY.—A person who 
willfully commits, willfully attempts to commit, 
or willfully conspires to commit, or aids or 
abets in the commission of, a violation of regu-
lations prescribed under this subsection shall, 
upon conviction, be fined not more than 
$1,000,000, or if a natural person, may be im-
prisoned for not more than 20 years, or both. 
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(b) RESTRICTIONS ON CERTAIN TRANSACTIONS BY 
UNITED STATES FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS.— 
(1) IN
GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec-
retary of the Treasury shall prescribe regulations to 
prohibit a United States financial institution, and 
any person owned or controlled by a United States 
financial institution, from knowingly engaging in a 
significant transaction with or benefitting any per-
son that the Secretary finds to be a covered person. 
(2) CIVIL PENALTY.—A person who violates, at-
tempts to violate, conspires to violate, or causes a 
violation of regulations prescribed under this sub-
section shall be subject to a civil penalty in an 
amount not to exceed the greater of— 
(A) $250,000; or 
(B) an amount that is twice the amount of 
the transaction that is the basis of the violation 
with respect to which the penalty is imposed. 
SEC. 4. OPPOSITION TO ASSISTANCE BY THE INTER-
NATIONAL FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS AND 
THE EXPORT-IMPORT BANK. 
(a) INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS.— 
The Bretton Woods Agreements Act (22 U.S.C. 286 et 
seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following: 
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