South Korea announces sanctions on Huione Group

South Korea’s government announced the day before yesterday, November 27, that it would impose unilateral sanctions on 15 individuals and 132 entities, including 陈志 and Huione Group, in response to increasingly rampant cybercrime in Southeast Asia. They are considered to have been involved in crimes against South Korean citizens including aggravated fraud, kidnapping and unlawful confinement. Yonhap reported yesterday that the Foreign Ministry identified among the targets 陈志, chairman of Prince Holding Group, a business run by ethnic Chinese, which operates a large criminal compound in Cambodia where many South Korean citizens had been confined. Huione Group and its subsidiaries, accused of helping criminal organisations launder money, were also included. A compound in Phnom Penh developed by 陈志, where South Korean media believe many South Koreans are engaged in online scams. The United States and United Kingdom sanctioned Prince Holding Group last month. The US Treasury also designated Huione Group as a financial institution of money-laundering concern. Under the relevant laws and regulations, designated individuals and entities will face measures including the freezing of assets in South Korea, including crypto-assets, restrictions on domestic financial transactions and entry bans. The South Korean government explained: “These are our country’s first unilateral sanctions targeting transnational crime and the largest single set of sanctions in its history.” It stressed that the measures demonstrated its determination to respond actively to transnational crime, including cybercrime in Southeast Asia, causing serious harm at home and abroad. The government also said it would continue responding fully to transnational crime through close interagency and international cooperation and blocking illegal funds, including by designating additional sanctions targets, to combat overseas criminal networks and prevent South Korea from being used to conceal and launder criminal proceeds.