S. Korea announces unilateral sanctions on N. Korea

On Friday, South Korea announced its sanctions against 15 North Korean individuals and 16 institutions for the first time in five years. The newly designated individuals and organizations helped develop weapons of mass destruction (WMDs), including missiles, smuggled oil, and other minerals. A continued provocation from the North will lead to additional sanctions from the South, which will be expanded to include cyber, shipping, and exports.

The government’s unilateral sanctions against the North came from the assessment that its provocations reached a level that cannot be tolerated. In announcing the fresh sanctions, the government strongly condemned North Korea for recently broaching the possibility of using tactical nuclear weapons against South Korea and conducting back-to-back missile provocations with unprecedented frequency.”

The individuals all work for two organizations that the U.N. Security Council previously sanctioned — the Korean Second Academy of Natural Sciences and Ryonbong Trading General Corp. They contributed to the development of the North's nuclear and missile programs by smuggling commodities, technologies, and war supplies as well as other contraband needed for developing weapons of mass destruction (WMDs).

The newly designated institutions also helped develop weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) by procuring supplies, dispatching North Korean laborers abroad, and smuggling ships and minerals. Some organizations are slapped with sanctions for smuggling via transshipment and operating sanctioned ships.

The individuals and organizations on the sanctions list are already on the U.S. sanctions list. Compared to the U.S., which places 190 individuals and 200 organizations on its blacklist, South Korea has only 124 individuals and 105 organizations on its blacklist. For this, the government argues that there is more room to add other entities to the list.


Jin-Woo Shin niceshin@donga.com