S. Korea and Japan Slap Sanctions over Russia-N. Korea Military Collaboration

Anchor: South Korea and Japan have slapped independent sanctions on individuals, organizations and ships involved in raising illegal funds and facilitating arms transfers between North Korea and Russia. Seoul’s foreign ministry says the latest sanctions will tighten the international community’s collaboration against Pyongyang.
Our Bae Joo-yon has more. 

Report: The foreign ministry announced on Friday that it imposed independent sanctions on seven North Korean individuals, including Rim Yong-hyok, who heads the Syrian office of the Korea Mining Development and Trading Corporation. 

The now dissolved UN expert panel tasked with monitoring the enforcement of the UN Security Council(UNSC) sanctions on the North had described Rim in one of its reports as a figure that negotiated arms deals with the Russian state-funded private military company, Wagner Group. 

Also among the targets of the sanctions is Han Hyok-chol, the head of Taeryong Trading Company’s office in the Russian city of Vladivostok. He is suspected of involvement in bringing Russian diesel into the North.  

The other five North Koreans subject to the latest sanctions are linked to a company under the North’s Munitions Industry Department, suspected of raising illicit funds through IT activities while illegally residing in Vladivostok. 

The South Korean government also placed two Russian ships, Maia-1 and Maria on its sanctions list for transporting large containers of military supplies between Russia and the North. 

Also on Friday, the Japanese government unveiled its decision to impose sanctions on eleven organizations and one individual involved in Russia’s procurement of weapons from the North. 

The latest actions by Seoul and Tokyo came as it is becoming difficult to adopt new UN resolutions against the North’s provocations at the security council, which continues to be divided amid the Russia-Ukraine war. 

The foreign ministry said it believes that its latest action will contribute to further tightening the web of international sanctions on the Kim Jong-un regime.

Bae Joo-yon, KBS World Radio News.