US: OFAC Designates DPRK IT Facilitators and Rwanda Defence

On October 28, 2026, the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) added ten individuals and three entities to the Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) List under the North Korea and Democratic Republic of the Congo-related programs, as published on the OFAC recent-actions page for October 28, 2026. US banks and payment institutions that clear transactions involving the new SDN names or wallets, US companies that hire remote IT contractors and must screen for DPRK IT-worker fronts, crypto exchanges and virtual-asset service providers that must block the listed ETH and TRX addresses, and firms whose counterparty is the Rwandan Ministry of Defence (MINADEF, MOD) or Zigama Credit and Savings Society (Zigama CSS) must immediately block property of the October 28, 2026 SDN additions and rescreen customers, vendors, IT contractors and crypto wallets against the DPRK2, DPRK3 and DRCONGO entries, including entities 50 percent or more owned by them, or dealing in blocked property is a strict-liability violation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) under 31 CFR Chapter V, and US financial institutions must reject transactions involving the DPRK designees under North Korea Sanctions Regulations section 510.214.

The update is an SDN designation, not a new regulation. Each DPRK name carries North Korea Sanctions Regulations sections 510.201 and 510.210 (secondary sanctions risk) and section 510.214 (transactions prohibited for persons owned or controlled by a US financial institution). The DRCONGO entries are the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Rwanda (MINADEF, MOD) and Zigama Credit and Savings Society (Zigama CSS, registration RCA/546/2010).

Who did OFAC add on October 28, 2026, and under which program?

OFAC added ten individuals and three entities. Six individuals are linked to the First Financial and Technical Development Center (FFTDC): Yu Song Han, Se Il Hyon, Kyong Ju Kim, Sung Gwan Kim, Thae Chol Ri and Hyong Jin So. The DPRK3 entity is FFTDC itself, established in January 2024, in financial and insurance activities, in North Korea and Vladivostok. Three DPRK2 names link to Chinyong Information Technology Cooperation Company or Limited Liability Company Alis: Ilya Aleksandrovich Boykov is linked to Limited Liability Company Alis, and Hyo Dong Kim and Ki Hyok Kim are linked to Chinyong. Vitold Viktorovich Obertas is a fourth DPRK2 name and has no Linked To line. Two DRCONGO entries are a government ministry and a bank. The Treasury press line for those two designations is "Supporting M23".

Who must rescreen, and which property is blocked?

US persons must treat the new names, the listed digital-currency addresses, and entities owned 50 percent or more in the aggregate by blocked persons as blocked property under the OFAC 50 Percent Rule. A US company that pays a remote IT contractor, a crypto exchange that holds a listed ETH or TRX address, and a firm whose counterparty is the Rwandan Ministry of Defence or Zigama CSS sit in that set.

Boykov and Obertas share one ETH address. The other listed strings are one further ETH address and two TRX addresses for Boykov, three TRX addresses for Obertas, and one ETH address for Kim Ki Hyok. Section 510.214 prohibits a US financial institution, and a person it owns or controls, from processing a transaction with these DPRK designees.

What must change immediately, and what happens otherwise?

Blocking applies on designation. The October 28, 2026 release states no later compliance date. Stop matching payments, reject or freeze matching wires and wallet transfers, and refresh vendor, customer, contractor and ownership screening against DPRK2, DPRK3 and DRCONGO, including the 50 percent test.

• Load the ten individuals and three entities, with aliases MINADEF, MOD, Zigama CSS and Zigama Credit and Savings Bank, into the SDN file.
• Block the ETH and TRX addresses on Boykov, Obertas and Kim Ki Hyok, including the shared ETH address.
• Rescreen remote IT contractors for links to FFTDC, Chinyong Information Technology Cooperation Company and Limited Liability Company Alis.
• Rescreen counterparties that are the Rwandan Ministry of Defence or Zigama CSS, and entities they own at 50 percent or more.
• Apply section 510.214: a US financial institution rejects a DPRK designee transaction rather than processing it through a person it owns or controls.

Otherwise, dealing in blocked property is a strict-liability civil violation of IEEPA under 31 CFR Chapter V. The release states no penalty figure for this designation. Voluntary self-disclosure is the mitigation path in 31 CFR Part 501 Appendix A when a hit is found after the fact. Continuous per-jurisdiction monitoring surfaces an SDN page of this kind when OFAC publishes it.

Match customers, vendors, contractors and wallets to the names and addresses above, apply the block, and brief sanctions operations, procurement and the payments desk on the DPRK2, DPRK3 and DRCONGO tags, including entities owned 50 percent or more by these SDNs.