US sanctions North Korea’s Kim Jong-un for the first time over ‘notorious’ rights abuses
Sanctions places Kim on a blacklist making him radioactive to major financial institutions and companies while freezing any assets he may already have in US banks
The United States on Wednesday sanctioned North Korean leader Kim Jong-un for the first time, citing “notorious abuses of human rights”, in a move that diplomats say will incense the nuclear-armed country.
The sanctions, the first to target any North Koreans for rights abuses, affect property and other assets within US jurisdiction and extend to 10 other individuals and five government ministries and departments, the US Treasury Department said in a statement.
The sanctions place those officials on a blacklist making them radioactive to major financial institutions and companies while freezing any assets they may already have in US banks.
Under Kim Jong-un, North Korea continues to inflict intolerable cruelty and hardship on millions of its own people
“Under Kim Jong-un, North Korea continues to inflict intolerable cruelty and hardship on millions of its own people, including extrajudicial killings, forced labour, and torture,” Acting Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Adam J. Szubin said in the statement.
In North Korea, the leader is the subject of state-mandated adulation and considered infallible.
In a report by the US State Department to Congress, Kim Jong-un topped a list of those responsible for serious human rights abuses and censorship in North Korea. Many of the abuses happen in North Korea’s political prisoner camps, which hold between 80,000 and 120,000 prisoners including children, the report said.
