New sanctions imposed on North Korea after ICBM test by US and Asian allies

WASHINGTON: The United States, South Korea, and Japan have imposed sanctions on North Korean officials linked to the country's arms programs after the last and largest intercontinental ballistic missiles in Pyongyang last month.

The American Treasury Department appointed individuals on Thursday under the name of Jon il Ho, Yu Jin, and Kim Su Gil, all the European Union designated for sanctions in April.

The South Korean Foreign Ministry has announced sanctions against seven other people, including a Singaporean and Taiwanese, and eight entities. All are already under sanctions by the United States imposed between January 2018 and October 2022, said the ministry.

Japan has appointed three entities and a person for new sanctions, said the Ministry of Japan for Foreign Affairs, including the Lazare group suspected of having made cyberattacks.

China and Russia have blocked recent efforts to impose more United Nations sanctions, saying that they should instead be attenuated to jump talks and avoid humanitarian damage. This left Washington to focus on trilateral efforts with South Korea and Japan, as well as on European partners.

The latest sanctions follow an ICBM test on November 18 by North Korea, part of a record series of more than 60 missile launches this year, and in the midst of the concerns, it could be about to resume Nuclear weapons tests, which has been suspended since 2017.

A Treasury press release said Jon he Ho and Yu Jin played major roles in developing weapons of mass destruction while being vice director and director, respectively, of the Department of the North Korean Munitions Industry.

He said Kim Su Gil was director of the 2018 People's People's Army Politics Bureau from 2018 to 2021 and supervised the implementation of decisions related to the ADM program.

"The Treasury takes measures in close trilateral coordination with the Republic of Korea and Japan against those responsible who have played leading roles in MDM and illegal MDM programs of the RPDC,"

said the Treasury Sub Secretary to terrorism and financial intelligence, Brian Nelson The initials of the official name of North Korea.

"Recent launches demonstrate the need for all countries to fully implement the resolutions of the United Nations Security Council, which are intended to prevent RPDC from acquiring the technologies, materials, and income that Pyongyang needs to develop its prohibited WMD and ballistic missile capacities."

The sanctions freeze the American assets of individuals and prohibit relations with them, but seem largely symbolic.

The South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the last decision was one of its efforts to severely respond to nuclear and increasing missile threats from North Korea.

Decades of sanctions led by the United States have failed to stop the increasingly sophisticated missile and nuclear weapons programs in North Korea.

"The targeting of senior officials in North Korea responsible for ADM and missile and work activities with South Korea and Japan are important, but it is an inadequate and symbolic response to 60+ missile tests, including 8 ICBM tests, "said Anthony Ruggiero, headed North Korea sanctioned efforts under former President Donald Trump.

"The Biden administration is expected to sanction Pyongyang's income and force Kim Jong one to make difficult decisions about its strategic priorities," he said.

US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said Washington was determined to use pressure and diplomacy to encourage North Korea to abandon its nuclear arsenal.

He said that the administration had not illustrated itself in the challenges, but that it remained determined to hold Pyongyang responsible.

A spokesperson for the National Security Council of the White House said that the sanctions had succeeded in "slowing down the development" of arms programs and that Pyongyang had turned to "increasingly desperate means of generating income as virtual currency dials and other cyber criminals to finance its arms programs."