U.N. issues new sanctions against North Korea
The
United Nations Security Council has imposed a travel ban on and frozen the
assets of five North Korean officials for their involvement in the North's
nuclear and ballistic missile programs, informed sources here said Thursday,
according to Yonhap News.
The
sanctions on North Korean personnel, the first of its kind, came three days
before the Sunday deadline for listing North Korean officials, companies and
goods under a council mandate. The council adopted a resolution in early June
to sanction North Korea
for its nuclear test on May 25.
The
five are Ri Je-son,
director of the General Bureau of Atomic Energy; Yun
Ho-ji, director of Namchongang
Trading Corp.; Ri Hong-sop, former head of the Yongbyon Nuclear Research Center; Hwang Sok-hwa,
a senior official of the General Bureau of Atomic Energy, and Han Yu-ro, director of Korea Ryongakan
General Trading Corp.
Ri Je-son
is said to be in charge of North
Korea's nuclear programs while representing
the North in dealing with the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Yun Ho-jin was caught smuggling 22
tons of high strength aluminum pipes out of Germany in 2003.
He
insisted that the pipes were destined for a Chinese aviation firm, but the IAEA
suspected that they might be for centrifuges for uranium enrichment.
Hwang
Sok-hwa and Ri
Hong-sop are senior nuclear scientists.
Ju Kyu-chang, a member of the
North's all-powerful National Defense Commission, and several other prominent
North Korean officials and nuclear scientists, however, were not included in an
apparent compromise with reluctant China,
North Korea's
staunchest communist ally.
The
Security Council also listed five North Korean firms subject to sanctions under
Resolution 1874, adopted on June 12.
They
are the General Bureau of Atomic Energy, Hong Kong Electronics, Namchongang Trading Corp., Korea Kyoksin
Trading Corp. and Korean Tangun Trading Corp.
The
companies bring to eight the number of entities to be sanctioned under U.N.
resolutions addressing the North's nuclear and missile tests.
Source:
The Korea
Herald
