US Proposes Wider Technology Investment Curbs Covering North Korea

The US Treasury Department has proposed expanding controls on American investment in sensitive technologies to cover North Korea, widening a national-security program that currently focuses on China, Hong Kong and Macau.

The proposed regulations would also add Russia, Iran, Cuba and Venezuela under the government identified in the underlying law to the list of countries of concern. The plan is intended to implement the Comprehensive Outbound Investment National Security Act, which Congress enacted as part of the fiscal 2026 defense authorization law.

Under the proposal, US persons would be barred from certain transactions involving covered foreign entities working with technologies deemed especially sensitive. Other transactions would remain possible but would have to be reported to the Treasury Department. The framework is designed to address not only the transfer of capital but also the expertise, market access and other benefits that can accompany investment.

The technology areas identified by Treasury include semiconductors and microelectronics, artificial intelligence, quantum information technologies, high-performance computing and supercomputing. The broader statutory framework also encompasses areas such as hypersonic systems, while Treasury's proposal describes how different investments would be classified as prohibited, notifiable or outside the program.

For North Korea, the move would add another layer to extensive US restrictions aimed at limiting Pyongyang's access to money and technology that could support military modernization, surveillance or cyber capabilities. The measure is an outbound-investment control rather than a conventional trade restriction: it focuses on what US investors may finance or support overseas.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the proposed rules would strengthen the existing program by preventing adversaries from using US investment to develop critical technologies that threaten American national security. Treasury says the current Outbound Investment Security Program took effect in January 2025 after rules implementing a 2023 executive order.

The new proposal is not yet a final rule. Public comments are due by Dec. 7, after which Treasury is expected to review feedback and issue final implementing regulations. Until then, the existing program remains in force under its current scope. The final regulations are expected to establish when the expanded requirements take effect and provide the operative compliance standards for investors and companies.