N. Korea hit with new UN sanctions
Penalties target nuclear ambitions
UNITED NATIONS - The UN imposed new sanctions yesterday against five North Korean officials, four companies, and a state agency, and banned imports of two weapons-making materials, in a rare unified push by the world’s powers to thwart Pyongyang’s nuclear ambitions.
The sanctions, which take immediate effect and are to be carried out by all of the UN’s 192 member nations, include travel bans and a freeze on the financial assets of the officials, companies, and state agency. Nations also were instructed to refrain from supplying North Korea with certain types of graphite and para-aramid fiber - materials used in ballistic missile parts.
“It is of course significant that we have also put individuals on the list, as this is the first time,’’ said Fazli Corman, Turkey’s deputy UN ambassador, who chairs the panel. “This shows that the sanctions are going on a higher level at this moment.’’
The newest sanctions were approved against:
►The General Bureau of Atomic Energy in Pyongyang, the chief agency directing the North’s nuclear program. That includes Yongbyon Nuclear Research Center and its plutonium-production research reactor, as well as its fuel fabrication and reprocessing facilities.
► Three Pyongyang-based companies - Namchongang Trading Corp., Korea Hyoksin Trading Corp., and Korean Tangun Trading Corp. - and one Iranian-based company, Hong Kong Electronics.
► Yun Ho-Jin, director of Namchongang Trading Corp.; Ri Je-Son, director of the General Bureau of Atomic Energy; Hwang Sok-Hwa, chief of the bureau’s scientific guidance; Ri Hong-Sop, former director of Yongbyon Nuclear Research Center; and Han Yu-Ro, director of Korea Ryongaksan General Trading Corp.
► Two types of goods North Korea uses in ballistic missile parts - a graphite designed or specified for use in electrical discharge machining and paraaramid fiber, which is a Kevlarlike material.
US Ambassador Susan Rice said the United States is pleased with the list, which required unanimous approval among the 15 nations that make up a sanctions panel of the UN Security Council. China, North Korea’s biggest ally and trading partner, went along with most of the US recommendations.
The United States has launched what it calls a major effort to ensure that UN Security Council Resolution 1874, which along with a previous resolution in 2006 serves to authorize the latest sanctions, is implemented effectively.
“These new designations - five individuals, five entities, and two goods - strengthen the sanctions regime against North Korea and will serve to constrain North Korea from engaging in transactions or activities that could fund its WMD or proliferation activities,’’ Rice said.
The sanctions panel, which said it plans to add still more names and entities, has been focused on three areas: sensitive dual-use goods, ballistic missile-related items, and nuclearrelated items.
North Korea has not indicated how it will react to the sanction panel’s latest decisions.
