South Korea sanctions Russian ships, entities for moving North's weapons and workers

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lim Soo-suk speaks during a briefing at the ministry building in Jongno District, central Seoul, on Tuesday. [YONHAP]

The South Korean government announced Tuesday that it will impose a raft of sanctions on several Russian ships, entities and individuals involved in transporting military supplies to North Korea and moving North Korean workers overseas.

This is the first time the South Korean government has announced independent sanctions targeting only Russian-flagged vessels, organizations and individuals, indicating that Seoul is taking a harder stance against foreign trade and economic cooperation with North Korea amid Russia’s apparent unwillingness to enforce international sanctions against Pyongyang.

The targets of sanctions announced by Seoul’s Foreign Ministry on Wednesday include two Russian ships involved in transporting munitions to North Korea, as well as two Russian companies and two individuals who helped North Korean workers, such as information technology (IT) personnel, gain employment overseas.

The United Nations Security Council bans all UN member states from engaging in military cooperation with North Korea, including arms deals, and requires them to repatriate any North Korean workers in their countries.

According to the Foreign Ministry, two Russian ships — the Lady R and the Angara — carried a large number of containers with military supplies between Russia and North Korea last year.

The biannual report published last month by the Security Council’s panel of experts on sanctions against North Korea included satellite images showing the Angara traveling between the North Korean port of Rajin and Vladivostok.

The panel report also noted that member states had said the containers appeared to have been transported to a weapons depot near Ukraine, suggesting the vessel was used to carry munitions for use against Ukraine.

The Foreign Ministry also warned that it is “closely monitoring the possibility that payments by Russia for arms exported by North Korea may violate Security Council resolutions or threaten our security” and added that Seoul “will consider additional measures if necessary.”

The ministry also sanctioned two Russian entities and their respective chiefs for their involvement in helping to bankroll North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs by facilitating the overseas employment of North Korean workers.

Intellekt LLC and its head Sergey Mikhaylovich Kozlov are suspected of helping the North’s State Academy of Defense Sciences earn foreign currency by issuing identification documents needed by North Korean workers in Russia, while Sodeistvie, led by Aleksandr Fyodorovich Panfilov, is suspected of transporting North Korean workers to and from Russia, including facilitating their entry and stay in the country.

Citing the Security Council panel’s report, the Foreign Ministry noted that over the past two years, there have been about 250 court cases globally involving Russian employers accused of illegally hiring North Korean workers. In at least four of these cases, the North Korean workers were issued work permits.

While the South Korean government has previously sanctioned Russian individuals or entities for supporting North Korea, Tuesday’s announcement of new sanctions signals Seoul’s willingness to hold Russia accountable for its increasing cooperation with Pyongyang.

The sanctions were announced shortly after Russia last week vetoed extending the mandate of the UN panel of experts that monitors sanctions against North Korea.

However, a Foreign Ministry official on Tuesday denied that the sanctions were undertaken in response to the Russian vote.

"The sanctions are in response to the military cooperation, including arms deals, between North Korea and Russia, which seriously threatens peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and around the world, and other illegal cooperation between the two countries in violation of Security Council resolutions, which our government has been reviewing," the official said.

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