Is It Illegal To Buy DPRK Coinage?

I have never been accused of being "politically correct" and my grand daughter says I have no "filters" at all. I have also been told that I demonstrate some traces of autism - specifically lacking empathy for others.

However, I do find the topic of trigger words particularly objectionable. That is a form of guilty until proven innocent and I see that as completely reprehensible. No one, no thing or no other entity should ever be considered guilty without substantial proof and the ability to defend oneself.

So is there a list of these "improper terms" that we should all be aware of.

Liberia? (did you mean Libya?)

And if they really just say "Balkans" on that list, that can be a heckuva lot of countries.

I should say so.


Charles Taylor has been out of office for over a decade, and serving time in a UK jail for over 5 years.
Why Liberia ("Charles Taylor regime") would be on any such list is nothing short of baffling. I know of churches that provide financial support to Liberian churches. Pretty sure they haven't gotten their hands slapped by Uncle Sam.

I would also add that paypal appears to be regulating transfer of funds between their customers and these places. Not necessarily the sale of goods that may have been produced in these places.

As for the list of places whose coins tend to not be sold by U.S. sellers on ebay, Sudan also used to be on that list, though I haven't checked recently.

Certainly I see more gray than black-and-white to this whole area. Is there any benefit derived by the Cuban government when an American sells a 100 year old Cuban coin to another American? Of course not. So what sense is there in preventing such a transaction?
Is there any benefit derived by the North Korean government when silver and gold coins they have recently minted are sold outside of North Korea. Obviously yes.

Does ebay want to take the time to develop an algorithm that draws a line somewhere that makes sense? I suspect it's not worth the trouble (and risk) relative to the missed revenue opportunity in this case.

I agree.

The risk of getting it wrong is very high (fines in the hundreds of thousands of dollars). No lawyer or finance professional in their right mind would advise taking such a risk. Just imagine a CEO needing to report to shareholders or the Board that he/she allowed the company to run afoul of U.S. sanctions.

So collectors' interests become a sort of collateral damage.

Getting back to the original question ...

I have no legal training, but having read a bit more on the Treasury Department's OFAC site, IF you are a U.S. citizen, I would definitely steer clear of buying any modern North Korean bullion coins.

Here is an excerpt from a recent Treasury Department advisory on the North Korea sanctions program, which appears to be informing businesses, rather than individuals, but I would not want to test that distinction https://www.treasury.gov/resource-c...7232018.pdf:

The United States prohibits, among other things:
(my edit)...
The importation into the United States, direct or indirect, of any goods, services, or technology
from North Korea;
(my edit)...
The importation into the United States of any goods, wares, articles, and merchandise mined, produced, and manufactured wholly or in part by North Korean citizens or nationals.

As for citizens of other countries, there are broad U.N. sanctions in place against North Korea, so it would be best to check with the relevant authority in your own country.

For anyone interested in how the North Korean government extracts revenues from manufacturing supply chains (the basis of the sanctions), there is plenty of informative reading in that advisory.

Morally, I don't really care. Every imperial power has built their nation on the blood and horror of subjugated or subverted people. However, orange jumpsuits and expensive legal battles are not for me, so I think I will forgo the temptation to collect some of these coins.

Also, are DPRK coins minted in China or the DPRK?

The coins themselves are inanimate objects.
They don't understand politics.

I think that numismatics and politics should be kept separate,
just like Church and State should be separate.

Sure, I would collect DRPK coins, if I could find some.
DDR coins are scarce these days, and are becoming difficult to collect.

I have a large collection of Roman coins.
I am also a Christian. 2000 years later, I still hate Roman politics.
Thousands of Christians died at the hands of the Romans.