U.S. sanctions Russians for supporting North's weapons program

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U.S. sanctions Russians for supporting North's weapons program

Published: 13 Mar. 2022, 18:31

An undated photo released on Friday by North Korean state-run newspaper Rodong Sinmun shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-un issuing on-the-spot guidance at the Sohae Satellite Launching Station in Cholsan, North Pyongan Province. [NEWS1]

The United States imposed fresh sanctions Friday on two Russian individuals and three entities for enabling North Korea's weapons program, the U.S. Treasury Department said.

The new sanctions come shortly after the Pentagon on Thursday published in an intelligence report that the two recent missile launches conducted by the North were experimental launches for a new intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) being developed by Pyongyang.

North Korea claimed that the two tests, conducted on Feb. 27 and March 5, were tests for placing a reconnaissance satellite into space.

Pyongyang’s state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) highlighted North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s visit to the Sohae Satellite Launching Station in Cholsan, North Pyongan Province in an undated photo released on Friday.

Seoul and Washington have both concluded that Pyongyang’s purported reconnaissance satellite development tests were actually tests of an ICBM.

The new Treasury sanctions announced Friday are aimed at “a network of Russia-based individuals and entities complicit in helping [North Korea] procure components for its unlawful ballistic missile systems,” according to a statement read by Treasury undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence Brian Nelson.

According to the Treasury, the two Russian individuals and three Russian companies targeted by the new measures facilitated Park Kwang-hun, a North Korean representative based in Vladivostok previously sanctioned by both the U.S. and the United Nations in 2018 for procuring supplies for the North's illicit weapons programs.

The statement also noted that “much of this activity also violates U.N. prohibitions with respect to the DPRK,” using an acronym that refers to the North’s official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

Under successive United Nations Security Council resolutions, the North is prohibited from conducting tests of ballistic missile technology. Satellite launches are also prohibited as they employ the same technology.

“The DPRK continues to launch ballistic missiles in blatant violation of international law, posing a grave threat to global security,” Nelson said.

Earlier in the week, the United States, France and Britain failed to persuade fellow permanent United Nations Security Council members China and Russia to support a statement that describes North Korea’s recent actions as “violations” of the council’s previous resolutions.

Through its propaganda outlets, North Korea has denied that its recent missile tests are geared toward an eventual ICBM launch and argued that South Korea and the United States have a doubled standard when it comes to the North’s purported space program.

“Many countries launch military satellites,” said Uriminjokkiri, one of the North’s propaganda websites, said in a commentary on Sunday. “It is a shameless and brigandish act to maliciously defame only our reconnaissance satellite launch preparations and talk even about sanctions.”

The outlet described Seoul’s reaction to the tests as a “paranoiac convulsion” and claimed the reconnaissance satellite project is part of the country's five-year defense science and weapons system development plan.

“It is wrong for South Korean authorities, who are bent on developing various missiles and space launch vehicles targeting us, to put a double standard on our legitimate space development plans and exercise of our self-defense right,” it said.

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]