Japan and South Korea on Friday expanded their sanctions on North Korea following Pyongyang’s repeated attempts to fire projectiles since last week.
Japan’s new measures, approved at a Cabinet meeting earlier in the day, added the freezing of assets held in Japan by three organizations and four individuals, including North Korean hacker group Andariel, for their involvement in Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile development programs, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said in a press release.
With the additional sanctions, Japan now designates a total of 128 individuals and 140 organizations in its North Korea-linked sanction list, according to the ministry. The decision came after the North attempted to launch a military reconnaissance satellite on Aug. 24, and also fired two short-range ballistic missiles on Wednesday.
“North Korea’s series of provocative actions are a serious and imminent threat to Japan’s security, and threaten the peace and security of the region and the international community. They must never be tolerated,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told a news conference. “Japan strongly urges North Korea to take concrete actions toward resolving various issues, including its nuclear and missile development programs as well as the abductions of Japanese nationals (in the 1970s and 1980s),” the top government spokesman stressed.
Matsuno also said Japan will work in close cooperation within the Japan-US and Japan-US-South Korea frameworks, as well as in collaboration with wider international community for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
Japan first imposed the sanctions in 2006 following the North’s first nuclear test and test-launch of ballistic missiles over the Sea of Japan the same year.
Meanwhile, South Korea imposed unilateral sanctions on a North Korean company and five individuals involved in illicit financing for weapons of mass destruction programs, Seoul’s foreign ministry said, according to Yonhap News Agency. The ministry said the latest sanctions “demonstrate the strong determination of our government to lead international efforts to prevent North Korea’s development of satellites, drones and other unmanned aerial vehicles.” It added the sanctions also target North Korea’s efforts to evade international sanctions and Pyongyang’s efforts to procure funds for nuclear and missile activities.
Source: Kuwait News Agency