The United States has slapped new sanctions on three entities and two individuals for “illicitly generating revenue” that the North Korean regime uses to develop its weapons program.
The US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control on Wednesday designated two North Korean firms, Chilsong Trading Corporation and Korea Paekho Trading Corporation.
Chilsong acts as a front to earn foreign currency and collect intelligence for Pyongyang, the department said in a press release. Paekho operates under the North Korean military and has conducted art and construction projects for regimes in the Middle East and Africa since the 1980s.
The new sanctions also targeted North Korean individuals Hwang Kil Su and Pak Hwa Song and a construction firm they established in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Congo Aconde SARL.
Under the designations, transactions with the entities and individuals will be banned and all property and assets in the United States connected to them will be frozen.
“The DPRK’s unlawful weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs threaten international security and regional stability,” Brian Nelson, under secretary of the Treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence, said in a statement.
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is the official name of North Korea.
“The United States remains committed to targeting the regime’s global illicit networks that generate revenue for these destabilizing activities,” Nelson said.
The new sanctions come roughly two weeks after North Korea launched a Hwasong-15 intercontinental ballistic missile and warned of turning the region into a “firing range.”
CURRENTPH NEWS SERVICE
