Sanctions on North list 23 companies

Twenty-three companies and four individuals are currently on the U.S. sanctions blacklist against North Korea, including the alleged caretaker of leader Kim Jong-il’s secret funds and a Swiss-based firm, government data showed yesterday.

Some of them are expected to be on a new blacklist Washington has been putting together to punish Pyongyang for the sinking of a South Korean warship and to prod the communist regime to give up its nuclear weapons program.

Officials in Seoul have said that the U.S. is expected to release the new list later this month.

The four individuals include Kim Tong-myong, head of North Korea’s Tanchon Commercial Bank, who is believed to be taking care of leader Kim’s secret funds overseas, and Jakob Steiger, head of Kohas AG, a Swiss-based firm in which a North Korean entity is a major stakeholder.

Alex Tsai of Taiwan and his wife are also on the current U.S. blacklist for their alleged supply to North Korea of items that could be used in the country’s advanced weapons program.

Robert Einhorn, a senior State Department official overseeing sanctions on North Korea and Iran, said in Seoul early this month that the new sanctions will be carried out in the next several weeks and target North Korean companies and individuals involved in illicit activities.

Yonhap