The Security Council’s move bars the officials from travelling to UN member states and the companies, including Koryo Bank and Kangbong Trading, from doing business with UN member state entities
The United Nations Security Council voted to expand sanctions against North Korea in retaliation for that country’s recent ballistic missile tests by blacklisting additional companies and individuals. The resolution adds 14 North Korean government officials to the list of those already prohibited from travelling to UN member states as per a resolution passed by the Security Council in 2006. The move also prohibits four more companies, including Koryo Bank and Kangbong Trading Corp, from conducting transactions with UN member state entities. The Security Council’s resolutions are meant to stop Pyongyang’s nuclear detonations and missile tests, a programme diplomats and analysts say is meant to develop nuclear weapons. The body has issued a series of resolutions since 2006, after six-nation talks involving North Korea, China, the US, Japan, South Korea and Russia broke down. Kangbong, a subsidiary of North Korea’s military, trades products including metal, coal and software, a business which “may benefit the Government of the DPRK or the Worker’s Party of Korea”, according to documents shared among Security Council members ahead of the vote. DPRK stands for Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the country’s official name. Korea Kumsan Trading Corp, another company added to sanctions, “is owned or controlled by, or acting or purporting to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, the General Bureau of Atomic Energy”, according to the documents.
