[Yonhap News Photo]
The United States imposed sanctions on North Korean leader Kim Jong-un over human rights abuses in an unprecedented, highly symbolic measure underscoring Washington's determination to ramp up pressure on Pyongyang.
Ten other top officials as well as five state agencies, including the National Defense Commission, which has recently been replaced with the newly created State Affairs Commission, were also blacklisted by the Treasury Department for "their ties to North Korea's notorious abuses of human rights."
They are among a total of 15 North Korean officials and eight agencies, against whom the State Department recommended sanctions in a human rights report submitted to Congress. Of them, the Treasury added 11 individuals and five entities to the blacklist on Wednesday as the others have already been on the list.
"Under Kim Jong-un, North Korea continues to inflict intolerable cruelty and hardship on millions of its own people, including extrajudicial killings, forced labor, and torture," Adam J. Szubin, acting under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said in a statement.
"The actions taken today ... highlight the U.S. government's condemnation of this regime's abuses and our determination to see them stopped," he said.
It was the first time the US has imposed direct sanctions on the North's leader and the designation also marked the first-ever US sanctions on Pyongyang over its human rights abuses. That shows the U.S. is committed to ratcheting up pressure on Pyongyang.
Wednesday's designation was made in accordance with a State Department report on the North's human rights that was submitted to Congress under the North Korea Sanctions and Policy Enhancement Act, enacted in February following the nuclear and missile tests.
(Yonhap)
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
