On Monday 22 January, the EU Council of Foreign Ministers adopted restrictive measures – an assets freeze and a visa ban – against 17 North Korean nationals due to their involvement in unlawful trading activities and in activities aimed at facilitating the circumvention of sanctions imposed by the United Nations, including from abroad (see EUROPE 11942).
Individuals subject to sanctions include diplomats based in Angola, Egypt, China, Bangladesh and South Africa, according to legal acts published on 22 January. Some of them also helped to circumvent UN sanctions by seeking to sell arms and related material to Eritrea by signing a military cooperation contract between North Korea and Mozambique or by selling North Korean coal to Malaysia.
The aim of the sanctions is to maintain pressure on Pyongyang “in view of its continued and accelerated development of nuclear and ballistic programmes in flagrant disregard of previous UN Security Council resolutions”, a Council press release explains.
This decision brings the total number of individuals and entities autonomously designated by the EU under restrictive measures against the DPRK to 58 individuals and 10 entities. In addition, 79 individuals and 54 entities are subject to sanctions as they are listed by the UN. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)