The U.S. Treasury Department on Thursday announced a new change to its North Korea sanctions regulations intended to make it easier for humanitarian groups to bring laptops, ambulances, and other aid-related items into the DPRK.

The change — related to the definition of banned luxury goods under U.S. law — comes as many experts and officials have expressed alarm about the high likelihood that the COVID-19 pandemic has already spread to North Korea, despite Pyongyang’s claims of zero infections.

Some have warned that the zealous enforcement of sanctions against humanitarian organizations — by the U.S. and Chinese governments alike — along with North Korea’s own policies, has made it difficult for aid groups to enter the DPRK and do their work.

The Treasury Department’s new rule, set to take effect on Friday, appears set to remove a layer of redundancy for many of those groups: once the UN Security Council (UNSC) approves an item for export into North Korea that the U.S. defines as a “luxury good,” the Treasury Department will no longer need to issue its own stamp of approval on the same item.

It also means an aid group will no longer have to spend its time and resources seeking the Treasury Department’s approval, once the group has received a coveted sanctions exemption from the UNSC.

“Treasury sanctions do not target legitimate aid,” Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin said in a statement. “U.S. sanctions programs allow humanitarian aid including medicine, medical devices, equipment, and agricultural products at any time.”

“In the face of the COVID-19 global pandemic, we are acutely aware of the need for this aid to reach people,” he added.

Luxury goods, as they relate to North Korean sanctions, are defined broadly in American law. The UNSC and European Union also have their own lists.

They target many goods prized (and still used, despite sanctions) by the North Korean leadership, like Mercedes-Maybach and Rolls-Royce cars.

But they also include items like laptops, which humanitarian groups may want to use to collect data on a medical project, exercise equipment, and ambulances.

A Treasury Department spokesperson told NK News that the new rule is meant to take this nuance into account.

“OFAC would normally consider an ambulance to be a luxury car; however, it would not be considered a luxury good if specifically approved for export by the UN Security Council,” they said.

“Other humanitarian-related goods that may benefit from this rule change could include laptop computers, as this may be a necessary item for medical professionals to use in the field.”

OFAC refers to the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, which oversees sanctions enforcement.

Even with the new change, humanitarian organizations trying to work in North Korea still have to navigate a web of laws, regulations, UN resolutions, and often tense geopolitics before they can enter the country.

Paperwork, waiting periods, and legal fees can be time-consuming and expensive.

Aid groups need special licenses from the U.S. government to send goods into the North, and permission if they need to work with a North Korean partner inside the country.

And the Chinese government — which has called for the elimination of sanctions against the DPRK, and has also been accused of looking the other way when coal and oil sanctions are being violated — has at the same time been an aggressive enforcer of sanctions against humanitarian groups.

Most goods entering North Korea from the outside are transferred through Chinese customs.

The UNSC has to approve the exports, too — though the UN panel overseeing sanctions enforcement has not rejected any requests for humanitarian exemptions since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

Additionally, once the humanitarian groups are established in the country, they also have no easy way to send money there to keep their operations afloat.

Wire transfers are often not possible because of financial sanctions, and cash-carrying couriers likely can’t come in because Pyongyang shut down its borders while the COVID-19 outbreak was spreading in China.

North Korea’s own government has put up barriers to aid groups as well.

As the coronavirus was spreading in China, many humanitarian organizations’ supplies were reportedly stuck in Chinese customs for weeks because of the DPRK’s border closures.

Experts also accuse Pyongyang of grossly misallocating its resources, which has led to such an urgent need for humanitarian help in the first place.

U.S. officials have expressed no interest in removing sanctions as a whole — unless, they say, Pyongyang takes more steps toward denuclearization first.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said last month that the world needs to “remain united” in enforcing sanctions against the North, in order to bring the country back to the negotiating table over its nuclear weapons.

On Thursday, the Treasury Department also released other rule changes related to North Korea sanctions enforcement targeting financial institutions that violate sanctions on the DPRK.

The changes were based on the newest U.S. sanctions law, which Congress passed last December.