Human rights violations: US imposes more sanctions on N Korea indiviudals

The US Department of Treasury on Thursday issued new sanctions on seven individuals and three entities of North Korea over what it called human rights abuses.

"Today's sanctions target the North Korean military and regime officials engaged in flagrant abuses of human rights," Xinhua quoted US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin as saying.

Pyongyang's financial facilitators "who attempt to keep the regime afloat with foreign currency earned through forced labour operations" were also targeted, Mnuchin added.

Among the sanctioned individuals were North Korea's military security officials and Labour Minister Jong Yong Su. North Korea's consul general in Shenyang, China, and a diplomat at its embassy in Vietnam were also targeted.

As a result of the saction, any property or interests of the designated persons in the US will be blocked and transactions by Americans involving these persons are generally prohibited.

The new moves came a month after the US Department of Treasury slapped sanctions on eight banks and 26 individuals linked to North Korea financial networks in response to the country's ongoing development of weapons of mass destruction.

The North Korea successfully tested two intercontinental ballistic missile and a hydrogen bomb this year, triggering two new economic sanctions by the UN Security Council.
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UN Security Council unanimously steps up sanctions against North Korea

The UN Security Council has unanimously passed a US-drafted resolution that imposes strongest sanctions ever on North Korea, with measures targeting its last remaining major exports and reducing about 30 percent of oil provided to it.

"Today, we are saying the world will never accept a nuclear-armed North Korea. And today, the Security Council is saying that if the North Korean regime does not halt its nuclear program, we will act to stop it ourselves," the US Ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, said as the 15-membered UN body passed the resolution 2375 on North Korea.

"We are done trying to prod the regime to do the right thing. We are now acting to stop it from having the ability to continue doing the wrong thing," she said.

Haley said the international community is doing that by hitting North Korea's ability to fuel and fund its weapons program.

Noting that oil is the lifeblood of North Korea's effort to build and deliver a nuclear weapon, Haley said the resolution reduces almost 30 per cent of oil provided to North Korea by cutting off over 55 per cent of its gas, diesel, and heavy fuel oil.
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