The United States (US) on Friday announced a fresh round of sanctions on North Korea in the wake of several missile tests in recent days.
The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said in a press release that it had issued sanctions against three entities and two individuals who had assisted in exporting petroleum to North Korea, which it said “directly supports” the rogue nation’s “development of weapons programs and its military.”
The Treasury stated that the move highlighted Washington’s “commitment to implement existing United Nations Security Council resolutions (UNSCRs), including holding the DPRK accountable for its use of illicit ship-to-ship (STS) transfers to circumvent UN sanctions that restrict the import of petroleum products and supports the development of its weapons programs and military.”
Interesting development: North Korea says its Sept. 25 SLBM test was from an "underwater launching ground 저수지수중발사장" on the *northwest* coast, and that this launch platform is still "under construction."https://t.co/l59r8DPVeX pic.twitter.com/DiUoQqtfaA
— Colin Zwirko (@ColinZwirko) October 10, 2022
Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson noted that the North’s recent long-range ballistic missile launches, including the one over Japan, demonstrate “a continued disregard for United Nations Security Council resolutions.” “The United States will continue to enforce multilateral sanctions and pursue the DPRK’s sanctions evasion efforts worldwide, including by designating those who support these activities,” he asserted.
According to the department, New Eastern Shipping Co Ltd, a Marshall Islands-registered company, has been involved in “the ownership or management” of the Courageous, a vessel that has “participated in several deliveries of refined petroleum to the DPRK” and “conducted UN-prohibited STS transfers with the DPRK vessels.”
The Treasury alleged that vessel was found to have engaged in “deceptive shipping practices” such as “disabling its Automatic Identification System or AIS, conducting STS transfers at night and in the Korea Bay (an area determined to be high-risk for sanctions evasion), and undertaking unnecessary detours to further obfuscate its true destination or origin.”
VIDEO: The footage of Tuesday's drills -- which came hours after North Korea fired a 4,500km-range IRBM over Japan -- shows US & ROK fighter jets flying in formation.
— NK NEWS (@nknewsorg) October 4, 2022
(0:11) ROK F-15K drops two JADAM precision bombs in the video provided by JCS.
Details:https://t.co/iuyRqG44Pq pic.twitter.com/DiZMIz1JN4
To this end, it blocked “all property and interests in property of the individuals and entities” within US borders. It also prohibited US citizens and those living in the US from dealing with the designated individuals.
The US’ decision comes after North Korea fired an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) over Japan last week. Japanese authorities responded by alerting residents in the country’s northeastern regions and ordering them to evacuate to shelters. It raised the first “J-alert” alert since 2017, when Pyongyang fired an intermediate-range Hwasong-12 missile twice over its territory in a short span of a few weeks.
Train services were also suspended in the Hokkaido and Aomori regions until the government issued a notice announcing that the missile appeared to have landed in the Pacific Ocean. In addition, subway services were temporarily suspended in Sapporo, the capital of Japan’s Hokkaido prefecture.
US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan had responded to the test by saying that Washington “will continue its efforts to limit” Pyongyang’s “ability to advance its prohibited ballistic missile and weapons of mass destruction programs, including with allies and UN partners.”
The test marked Pyongyang’s fifth launch since late September. It launched one short-range ballistic missile (SRBM) on 25 September, followed by two on 28 September, another two on 29 September, and two on 1 October.
I'm also starting to grow more confident that the Romeo-mod SSB will probably host this new "tactical" SLBM and not anything from the traditional Pukguksong-series of "strategic" SLBMs.
— Ankit Panda (@nktpnd) October 9, 2022
It fired two additional ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan on Sunday, marking its seventh test in two weeks.
North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un stressed last month that Pyongyang will never abandon nuclear weapons, as it needs them to counter the US, and that even another 100 years of sanctions would not bring the country to surrender the weapons. “Let them sanction us for 100 days, 1,000 days, 10 years or 100 years…We will never give up our rights to self-defence that preserves our country’s existence and the safety of our people just to temporarily ease the difficulties we are experiencing now,” Kim underscored while unveiling a new law that makes North Korea’s nuclear status “irreversible.”