Italian animation company agrees to $538,000 penalty for ‘apparent violations’ of US sanctions on North Korea

An Italian animation company has agreed to pay the US Treasury Department $538,000 for “apparent violations” of US sanctions against North Korea by doing business with a North Korean state-owned animation studio, the department said Wednesday.

An Italian animation company has agreed to pay the US Treasury Department $538,000 for “apparent violations” of US sanctions against North Korea by doing business with a North Korean state-owned animation studio, the department said Wednesday. It’s the first time Treasury has levied financial penalties related to sanctions on North Korea’s movie and animation industry, which experts say has quietly done business with foreign companies for decades, bringing the isolated and nuclear-armed North Korean regime vital revenue. The Rome-based animation firm Mondo TV, S.p.a. sent wire transfers through US financial institutions to pay North Korea’s flagship studio, known as SEK, about $538,000 for outsourced animation work between May 2019 and November 2021, Treasury said in a statement. To process the payments, SEK used “third-party companies” in China and the US that had accounts at “several” US banks, according to Treasury. A department spokesperson declined to name the US banks. Matteo Corradi, the CEO of Mondo TV Group, declined to comment. Founded in 1985, Mondo has produced or distributed a number of popular cartoons in Italy, including an adventure show called “Sandokan – The Two Tigers.”