§510.510 North Korean mission to the United Nations and employees of the United Nations.
(a) Except as provided in paragraph (c) of this section, the provision of goods or services in the United States to the official mission of the Government of North Korea to the United Nations (the mission) and payment for such goods or services are authorized, provided that:
(1) The goods or services are for the conduct of the official business of the mission, or for personal use of the employees of the mission, their families, or persons forming part of their household, and are not for resale;
(2) The transaction does not involve the purchase, sale, financing, or refinancing of real property;
(3) The transaction does not involve the purchase, sale, financing, or refinancing of luxury goods;
(4) The transaction is not otherwise prohibited by law; and
(5) Funds transfers to or from the mission or the employees of the mission, their families, or persons forming part of their household are conducted through an account at a U.S. financial institution specifically licensed by OFAC.
(b) Except as provided in paragraph (c) of this section, the provision of goods or services in the United States to the employees of the mission or of the United Nations, their families, or persons forming part of their household, and payment for such goods or services, are authorized, provided that:
(1) The goods or services are for personal use of the employees of the mission or of the United Nations, their families, or persons forming part of their household, and are not for resale;
(2) The transaction does not involve the purchase, sale, financing, or refinancing of luxury goods;
(3) The transaction is not otherwise prohibited by law; and
(4) Funds transfers to or from employees of the mission, their families, or persons forming part of their household are conducted through an account at a U.S. financial institution specifically licensed by OFAC.
(c) This section does not authorize U.S. financial institutions to open and operate accounts for, or extend credit to, the mission of the Government of North Korea or to the employees of the mission, their families, or persons forming part of their household. U.S. financial institutions are required to obtain specific licenses to operate accounts for, or extend credit to, the mission or to the employees of the mission, their families, or persons forming part of their household.
Note 1 to §510.510: Nothing in this section authorizes the transfer of any property to the Government of North Korea, the Workers' Party of Korea, or any other person whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to §510.201(a) other than the mission, nor does this section authorize any debit to a blocked account.
1) Similar license available in all country-wide embargo programs, but note substantial variances across licenses (515.568, 560.512, 510.510, 542.509).
With regard to persons present in the U.S. in particular, note the broad definition of "luxury goods" (510.317). Given that North Korean persons in the U.S. under the circumstances described in this license would be transacting with any number of U.S. persons not ordinarily aware of OFAC, it is unclear what sort of diligence expectations OFAC would have for U.S. merchants, and particularly brick and mortar merchants, but note that this provision represents an implementation of U.N. sanctions. For merchants dealing in high risk merchandise in particular, see Richemont North America, Inc. d.b.a. Cartier (2017).
2) See FAQ addressing the scope of "household" at FAQ # 465.
3) OFAC appears to consider all employees of sanctioned country diplomatic missions to be persons that necessarily meet the "Government of [X]" definition (for "acting on behalf" of a sanctioned government). 510.510(c) implies as much, and see also Civil Enforcement Information - TD Bank, N.A..