The governments of the United States, Japan and South Korea have tightened their sanctions against senior North Korean officials and entities after Pyongyang stepped up its missile launches in the region in recent weeks.
The U.S. State Department has announced in a statement that it is «taking action» as part of its effort to prevent North Korea from making progress on its «illegal» ballistic missile and weapons of mass destruction programs.
According to Washington, the «unprecedented» launch of more than 60 ballistic missiles so far this year, including tests of a multitude of intercontinental missiles, pose serious security risks to the region and the entire world.
For this reason, the Treasury Department has decided to sanction the chairman of the Defense Research Academy and member of the Workers’ Party Committee (WPK), Jon Il Ho; the chief secretary of the WPK’s provincial committee in Kangwon province, Kim Su Gil; as well as another member of the WPK Central Committee, Yu Jin.
These sanctions mean that all property and interests in property owned by the named individuals that are in the United States, or in the possession or control of U.S. persons, are blocked and must be reported to the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). In addition, any entity that is owned, directly or indirectly, 50 percent or more by one or more blocked persons is also blocked.
In addition, persons who engage in certain transactions with designated persons or entities may be exposed to the sanctions. In addition, any foreign financial institution that knowingly facilitates a significant transaction or provides significant financial services for any of the designated persons or entities could also be subject to sanctions, the State Department has detailed.
SEOUL AND TOKYO TARGET OTHER INDIVIDUALS AND INSTITUTIONS Meanwhile, South Korea has also announced a new package of sanctions against eight individuals and seven institutions involved in the secretive regime’s nuclear and missile development programs, the South Korean Foreign Ministry has detailed.
Those added to Seoul’s blacklist include officials of financial institutions linked to North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs, and those involved in illegal ship-to-ship transfers of sanctioned North Korean goods, Yonhap has reported.
These sanctions include six North Korean individuals from North Korea’s Foreign Trade Bank, Daesong Bank of Korea and Kumgang Group Bank. The others are a Singaporean and a Taiwanese, Kwak Kee Seng and Chen Shih Huan, respectively.
As for the institutions, four are North Korean trading and shipping companies, including Namgang Trading Corp. and three Singapore-based shipping companies.
Japan, on the other hand, has decided to freeze the assets of two trading companies and a piracy group, as well as an individual, for their involvement in North Korea’s missile and nuclear weapons development programs.
The individual, Kim Su Il, represents the Vietnamese branch of North Korea’s Ammunition Industry Department, which is a designated entity involved in overseeing the nation’s weapons programs, Japanese diplomacy has detailed in statements carried by the Kyodo agency.
Tokyo has carried out these sanctions after considering that Pyongyang’s missile launches have been carried out this year «at an unprecedented pace» maintaining that these are «serious and imminent threats» to Japan and the international community.
