South Korea, U.S. slap sanctions on North Koreans, entities in Russia, China and UAE

This file photo from the North Korean state-run Rodong Sinmun shows a missile launch. [NEWS1]

South Korea and the United States imposed fresh sanctions on North Korean individuals and entities based in Russia, China and the United Arab Emirates for their involvement in the financing of Pyongyang's weapons of mass destruction (WMD) programs.

Washington, in coordination with Seoul, blacklisted six North Korean individuals and two entities involved in generating foreign currency financing the "unlawful" nuclear and missile weapons programs, the U.S. Treasury Department said Wednesday.

“We have targeted two institutions and four individuals who are involved in overseas foreign currency earning activities of North Korean IT workers in sanctions,” the Foreign Ministry said in a separate press release Thursday. The two institutions and four individuals the South Korean government sanctioned unilaterally overlap with the two entities and six individuals the U.S. named in its list.

The two institutions are the Russian company Alice LLC and the United Arab Emirates’ Pioneer Bencont Star Real Estate. The Foreign Ministry said that these two companies have worked in connection with Jinyoung Information Technology Development Cooperation Company, an IT company under North Korea’s Ministry of National Defense. The company has been dispatching North Korean IT personnel to Russia, China and Laos and was subject to sanctions by South Korea and the United States last year.

The sanctioned individuals by the U.S. Treasury Department are Yu Pu-ung and Ri Tong-hyok, representatives in China of Tanchon Bank, the financial arm of North Korea’s Mining Development Corporation (Komid). They help finance Komid's sales of ballistic missiles, according to the U.S. Treasury Department on Wednesday.

Also sanctioned is O In-chun, a Russia-based representative of Korea Daesong Bank, which is operated by Office 39, an agency Pyongyang uses to engage in illicit economic activities and generate revenue for the North Korean leadership.

Others are Han Chol-man, a Kumgang Bank representative based in China, Jong Song-ho, a Jinmyong Joint Bank representative based in Russia, and Jon Yon-gun, an individual tied to UAE-based Pioneer Bencont Star Real Estate.

Of these six, Seoul blacklisted Yu, O, Han and Jong for evading sanctions and funding North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs through illegal financing and money laundering.

For Korean citizens to engage in foreign exchange or financial transactions with individuals or institutions designated as targets of sanctions, prior permission is required from the governor of the Bank of Korea and the chairman of the Financial Services Commission. Transactions without permission may be punished according to relevant laws.

Once placed on the U.S. sanctions list, assets in the country owned by the named entities or individuals are frozen, and U.S. companies are prohibited from doing business with them.

South Korea and the United States decided on this measure during the sixth session of the Working Group on DPRK Cyber Threats in Washington earlier this week.

The DPRK stands for the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

BY LIM JEONG-WON [lim.jeongwon@joongang.co.kr]