This photo provided by the North Korean government shows what it said about a hypersonic missile test launch on Tuesday in North Korea.
Korean Central News Agency / Korea News Service / AP
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Korean Central News Agency / Korea News Service / AP
This photo provided by the North Korean government shows what it said about a hypersonic missile test launch on Tuesday in North Korea.
Korean Central News Agency / Korea News Service / AP
WASHINGTON – The Biden administration on Wednesday imposed sanctions on 5 North Korean officials in its first response to Pyongyang. latest ballistic missile test and later announced it would also seek new UN sanctions.
The Treasury Department said it would impose penalties on five officials for their role in purchasing equipment and technology for North Korea’s missile programs. In addition, the State Department ordered sanctions against another North Korean, a Russian man, and a Russian company for their broader support of North Korea’s weapons of mass destruction activities.
The Treasury Department’s move comes just hours after North Korea said leader Kim Jong Un oversaw a successful test flight of a hypersonic missile on Tuesday that he said would significantly boost the country’s ability to fly. its nuclear “war deterrence” capability.
Linda Thomas-Greenfield, US Ambassador to the United Nations, tweeted Wednesday night that as designated by the Departments of State and Treasury, the US is also proposing UN sanctions in response. North Korea’s six ballistic missile launches since September, “each in violation of a United Nations Security Council Resolution.”
A US diplomat said the US is continuing to coordinate with partners in the council on the proposed new sanctions.
One in five North Koreans targeted by the Treasury Department are based in Russia, while the other four are based in China. All are accused of providing money, goods or services to North Korea’s Second Academy of Natural Sciences, which the Treasury Department says is heavily involved with the military’s defense programs. this country.
“North Korea’s latest missile launches are further evidence that the country continues to push for banned programs despite calls from the international community for diplomacy and denuclearization,” said Kim. Treasury Department’s director of financial intelligence and terrorism, Brian Nelson. He called the North by the abbreviation of its official name: Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
The sanctions freeze any assets the targets have in US jurisdictions, ban Americans from doing business with them and subject foreign companies and individuals to potential penalties ability to deal with them.
Shortly before the announcement, North Korea’s state news agency reported that the latest rocket launch involved a supersonic flying vehicle, which, after being launched from a booster, displayed “jumping and gliding”. ” and “corkscrew maneuvers” before hitting a target at sea 1,000 km (621 miles away.
Photos released by the agency showed a rocket with a pointed cone payload soaring into the sky while leaving an orange trail of fire, in which Kim watched from a small cabin with top officials. , including his sister Kim Yo Jong.
The launch was North Korea’s second test of a purpose-built hypersonic missile in a week, a weapon the country first tested in September, as Kim Jong Un continued his resolute effort to expand his capabilities. its nuclear weapons capabilities in the face of pandemic-related international sanctions. difficulties and deadlock in diplomacy with the United States.
The United Nations Security Council initially imposed sanctions on North Korea after its first nuclear test in 2006 and made them tougher in response to further nuclear tests and missile program. increasingly sophisticated ballistics. In 2018, US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said sanctions had cut off all North Korea’s exports and 90% of its trade, and disbanded the group of workers North Korea sent out. abroad to make money – but Pyongyang has avoided some measure.
China and Russia introduced a draft resolution in November urging the Security Council to end a series of sanctions against North Korea, including a ban on seafood and textile exports, import restrictions on imports of refined petroleum products and bans their citizens from working abroad and sending home their earnings. It highlighted economic difficulties in North Korea and said these and other sanctions should be lifted “with the aim of improving the livelihoods of ordinary people.”
China and Russia are both veto members of the Security Council and whether they support new sanctions on North Korea remains to be seen.
