The United States announced, Thursday, December 1, 2022, economic sanctions against three North Korean leaders. Already under European sanctions, the three men are accused of developing Pyongyang’s illegal weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs.
These measures target three leaders of the North Korean Workers’ Party, Jon Il Ho, Yu Jin, and Kim Su Gil, already under European sanctions.
These officials “played a prominent role in North Korea’s illegal weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs,” said Undersecretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson. quoted in the press release.
He said the sanctions were taken “in close trilateral coordination with South Korea and Japan”.
Ambition to become the most powerful nuclear force in the world
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said on Saturday that the nuclear-armed North Korea aims to have “the most powerful strategic force in the world”.
North Korea proclaimed in September that its status as a nuclear power was “irreversible”, definitively closing the door to any negotiations on its disarmament. She later threatened the United States with nuclear retaliation in the event of an attack.
Pyongyang has unleashed an unprecedented string of missile launches this year, including its most advanced intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in November.
