Imposition of Special Measure Against North Korea as a Jurisdiction of Primary Money Laundering Concern

Section 311 of the USA PATRIOT Act (Section 311), codified at 31 U.S.C. 5318A, grants FinCEN the authority, upon finding that reasonable grounds exist for concluding that a foreign jurisdiction, financial institution, class of transactions, or type of account is of “primary money laundering concern,” to require domestic financial institutions and financial agencies to take one or more “special measures.” Special measures one through four, codified at 31 U.S.C. 5318A(b)(1)–(b)(4), impose additional recordkeeping, information collection, and reporting requirements on covered U.S. financial institutions. The fifth special measure, codified at 31 U.S.C. 5318A(b)(5), allows FinCEN to impose prohibitions or conditions on the opening or maintenance of certain correspondent accounts. Special measures are safeguards that protect the U.S. financial system from money laundering and terrorist financing. In 2016, FinCEN issued a final rule imposing the fifth special measure to prohibit U.S. financial institutions from opening or maintaining correspondent accounts for, or on behalf of, North Korean banking institutions. The rule requires that U.S. financial institutions take reasonable steps to avoid processing transactions through the correspondent account of a foreign bank in the United States, if such transactions involve a North Korean financial institution, and it requires institutions to apply special due diligence to guard against the use of correspondent accounts by North Korean financial institutions. See 31 CFR 1010.659.

The latest form for Imposition of Special Measure Against North Korea as a Jurisdiction of Primary Money Laundering Concern expires 2026-04-30 and can be found here.