The United States in cooperation with the Mongolian National Counter Terrorism Council, provided specialized proliferation finance training in support of United Nations sanctions imposed to prevent illicit financing of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) programs in North Korea on 14-16 March.

The training reviewed the scope of the UN sanctions, methods used by the DPRK to evade the sanctions, and steps Mongolia can take to make sure it prevents North Korea from exploiting its financial institutions.

Best practices for investigation of potential fraud, including crypto-currency manipulation, were shared by the trainers from the University of Albany, State University of New York, led by Dr. Togzhan Kassenova.

The training was sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, Bureau for International Security and Nonproliferation (ISN) Export Control and Border Security (EXBS) program.

The goal of the EXBS program is to prevent the proliferation of dual-use commodities that could be used for WMD production.  This training will help strengthen Mongolia’s national security and financial sector to deter malign actors from evading sanctions by acquiring dual-use products controlled by international export control regimes.