The ‘biggest ever’ package of sanctions against North Korea-affiliated targets includes three Hong Kong and two Chinese shipping or trading firms, and a Taiwanese businessman
Three Hong Kong businesses and two Chinese companies are among the 49 targets accused of helping North Korea circumvent sanctions in a new blacklist placed by the United Nations Security Council on Friday.
Some 21 shipping and trading firms were hit by an assets freeze, three of which are based in Hong Kong, including Huaxin Shipping, which delivered shipments of North Korean coal to Vietnam in October.
In China, two other companies – Shanghai Dongfeng Shipping and Weihai World Shipping Freight – were blacklisted for carrying North Korean coal on their vessels. In total 27 ships and 21 companies were sanctioned.
Also blacklisted was Taiwanese businessman Tsang Yung Yuan, who was hit by a global travel ban and assets freeze for organising illegal shipments of North Korean coal with a North Korean broker in Russia.
The package – the largest-ever placed on North Korea – is intended to keep the pressure on Pyongyang despite its recent diplomatic opening to talks, a council diplomat said on condition of anonymity.
The move is part of a global crackdown on the smuggling of North Korean commodities in violation of UN sanctions resolutions, which were adopted in response to Pyongyang’s nuclear and ballistic missile tests.
A total of 13 North Korean oil tankers and cargo vessels were banned from ports worldwide along with 12 other ships for helping Pyongyang smuggle banned commodities or supplying oil and fuel shipments, according to a UN document obtained by AFP.
