The United States, South Korea, and Japan have imposed sanctions on North Korean officials connected to the country’s weapons programs after Pyongyang’s latest and largest intercontinental ballistic missile test last month.
The US Treasury Department on Thursday named the individuals as Jon Il Ho, Yu Jin, and Kim Su Gil, all of whom the European Union designated for sanctions in April.South Korea’s foreign ministry announced sanctions on seven other individuals, including a Singaporean and a Taiwanese, and eight entities. All are already under sanctions by the United States imposed between January 2018 and October 2022, the ministry said.
Japan also designated three entities and an individual for new sanctions, Japan’s foreign ministry said, including the Lazarus Group suspected of carrying out cyberattacks.
China and Russia have blocked recent efforts to impose more United Nations sanctions, saying they should instead be eased to jumpstart talks and avoid humanitarian harm. That has left Washington to focus on trilateral efforts with South Korea and Japan, as well as European partners.
The latest sanctions follow a November 18 ICBM test by North Korea, part of a record-breaking spate of more than 60 missile launches this year, and amid concerns that it may be about to resume nuclear weapons testing, which has been suspended since 2017.
