Hong Kong-based firm on expanded UN sanctions blacklist

A Hong Kong-based company was among six North Korean entities named in a unanimous UN Security Council resolution to punish Pyongyang for last month's long-range rocket launch.

The action announced by the council on Tuesday was a compromise that expanded the list of North Korean entities on the UN's sanctions list, but stopped short of any tough new penalties.

The resolution added North Korea's space agency, a bank, four trading companies and four individuals to the UN list of entities subject to an assets freeze and travel ban.

The companies blacklisted include Leader (Hong Kong) International, Reuters reported, as well as the Bank of East Land, Korea Kumryong Trading, Tosong Technology Trading and Korea Ryonha Machinery Joint Venture.

Leader, based in Hong Kong, is an agent for Komid, a North Korean mining and trading company sanctioned in 2009 that is North Korea's main arms dealer, according to the resolution.

The latest sanctions against North Korea would have little impact on its nuclear and missile programme, despite the added clout of China's support, analysts said yesterday.