EU adds six people to N.Korea sanctions list

EU adds six people to N.Korea sanctions list
by AFP Staff Writers
Brussels, Belgium (AFP) May 31, 2024

The EU on Friday added six individuals and three companies to its sanctions list against North Korea over the country's ballistic missile and nuclear programmes, and its military support to Russia in the war on Ukraine.

The additions were announced by the Council of the EU at the same time as the G7 expressed concern about deepening cooperation between Pyongyang and Moscow.

The measures applied to five North Koreans and one Russian official, and two North Korean firms and a Russian one. All were linked to arms or money transfers benefitting North Korea.

A US defence department report this week said Russia was using North Korean ballistic missiles in Ukraine, based on debris analysis.

The Council of the EU statement said the new measures were being applied "in view of sanctions evasion activities... that could generate funds for (North Korea's) illegal nuclear and ballistic missile programmes... and in view of the military support given by the DPRK (North Korea) to Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine".

One of the North Koreans sanctioned, Kim Chol Sok, was listed as an intelligence officer operating casinos, bars and other businesses in Cambodia to funnel money to Pyongyang.

Another, Rim Yong Hyok, was said to be a senior official in a mining company operating in Syria that was "the primary arms dealer and main exporter of goods and equipment related to ballistic missiles and conventional weapons" from North Korea.

- Weapons shipments -

The Russian, Oleg Nikolaevich Kozhemyako, is governor of Russia's Primorsky Krai region and said to have furnished North Korean leader Kim Jong Un with weapons when the latter visited in September last year.

The Russian firm sanctioned, a port operator called Eastern Stevedoring Company, was accused of facilitating the transfer of "thousands of containers of DPRK weapons and ammunition" to Russian forces to be used in Ukraine.

The two other firms listed were Hapjanggang Trading Corporation and Korea Namgang Trading Corporation.

The first was said to be part of North Korea's rocket industry ministry, while the second makes money handling the expatriation of North Korean workers as "illicit labourers", then channelling it back to the Pyongyang government.

The EU says it has now sanctioned 77 individuals and 20 entities over North Korea's weapons programmes, on top of UN-mandated sanctions.

"The EU is determined to prevent the flow of components, finance and knowledge that could be used by the DPRK (North Korea) to support the development of its nuclear, WMD (weapons of mass destruction) and ballistic missile programmes," the statement said.