WASHINGTON: The United States on Wednesday sanctioned six North Koreans, one Russian and an entity it said were responsible for procuring goods for North Korea’s weapons programmes, a move that follows a series of North Korean missile launches, including two since last week.
The US Treasury Department said the moves were in line with American efforts to prevent the advancement of North Korea’s weapons of mass destructionand ballistic missile programmes “and impede attempts by Pyongyang to proliferate related technologies”. It said it followed six North Korean ballistic missile launches since September, each of which it said violated multiple UN Security Council Resolutions. Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson said the moves targeted North Korea’s “use of overseas representatives to illegally procure goods for weapons”.