By Kim Se-jeong



The U.S. government's sanctions on North Korean leader Kim Jong-un have found an unexpected victim in Seoul, as a woman with the same name as Kim was prevented from overseas money transactions.



On Aug. 10, a 45-year-old woman in Seoul transferred 30 million won ($27,000) to her sister living in South Africa via Shinhan Bank, as her sister was about to purchase a house there and needed the money to complete the payment, according to the bank and Yonhap News Agency, Monday.



However, she learned that the money hadn't arrived even after 20 days.



As she inquired about it to Shinhan Bank, the bank answered that the money has been locked up in a bank in New York which mediated the money transfer to a South African bank. Because her name sounds the same as the dictator Kim, the South African bank inquired to the New York bank whether the sender could be the dictator, and returned the money to the bank in New York, according to Shinhan Bank.



This happened despite that the woman's name sounds the same as the North Korean leader's but is spelled differently in English. Shinhan did not disclose the exact spelling of the woman's name, citing client privacy.



"U.S. government officials are now aware that one Korean name can have different English spellings, and they monitor all names that sound similar," a Shinhan official said.



The official said using the American bank was necessary for wiring the customer's money to South Africa.



"We're not an international bank and we don't have direct business partnerships with banks in South Africa," he said.



The New York bank is neither sending the money back to Shinhan Bank, nor to the South African bank, saying it needs to check whether the money belongs to the North Korean leader. It's unclear how long it will take for the money to be released.



"We're in communication with the bank," said the official.



On July 6, the U.S. Department of the Treasury announced it added Kim Jong-un to its sanctions list, along with other key officials, for human rights violations.



All financial institutions operating on U.S. soil are banned from providing financial services to the North Koreans.



