US hits North Korea with fresh sanctions over missile development
- The move comes a day after China and Russia vetoed a UN Security Council resolution to inflict tougher penalties on Pyongyang
- So far this year, North Korea has launched 23 ballistic missiles, including six intercontinental ballistic missiles, the US Treasury says
The US Treasury Department said two banks, one trading company and one individual are the targets of the new sanctions for their support of North Korea’s weapons development programmes.
So far this year, North Korea has launched 23 ballistic missiles, including six intercontinental ballistic missiles, with every launch in violation of multiple UN Security Council resolutions, the department said in a press release.
“The United States will continue to implement and enforce existing sanctions while urging the DPRK to return to a diplomatic path and abandon its pursuit of weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles,” said Brian Nelson, undersecretary of the treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence, referring to the country by the acronym for its official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
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According to Treasury, the two banks subject to the sanctions are Russian financial institutions – the Far Eastern Bank and Bank Sputnik.
The Air Koryo Trading Corp. was also designated a sanctions target “for providing, or attempting to provide, financial, material, technological or other support for, or goods or services” in support of the Ministry of Rocket Industry, the department said.
Jong Yong-nam, an individual who has been in Minsk, Belarus, since 2019, “has directly supported or helped generate revenue” for a North Korean organisation linked to the ballistic missile development, it added.
The US-proposed Security Council resolution aimed at enhancing sanctions on North Korea over its multiple ballistic missile launches this year was rejected on Thursday, marking a first since sanctions on Pyongyang were initially adopted in 2006.
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Late on Friday, the top diplomats of South Korea, Japan and the United States issued a joint statement saying North Korea had “significantly increased the pace and scale of its ballistic missile launches since September 2021”.
In the statement, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin and Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi urged Pyongyang to “return to negotiations”.
North Korea has repeatedly test-fired ballistic missiles this year, including a launch of an ICBM in March, bringing an end to a self-imposed moratorium on such tests dating back to April 2018.
Speculation is also growing that it may carry out a nuclear test soon as North Korea shows no signs of returning to negotiations with the United States.
Pyongyang has not tested nuclear devices since September 2017.
Additional reporting by Reuters
