One country after another is taking action to add pressure on North Korea which is under the toughest-yet international sanctions over its latest nuclear and missile provocations.
Last week alone saw new actions taken by the European Union, Russia and Switzerland. They provide a timely boost to the international efforts to punish the rogue state, which -- through its Workers’ Party Congress earlier this month -- demonstrated its defiance against the U.N.-led sanctions.
The latest action came from the EU, which has added 18 senior North Korean officials to its list of persons subject to sanctions imposed by the U.N. Resolution 2270. Under the decision, its member states should ban travel of the North Koreans and freeze their assets.
The EU’s action followed similar steps taken by Russia and Switzerland. In Russia, the central bank ordered local financial institutions to freeze assets of entities and individuals listed by the U.N. resolution and halt all financial transactions with them. Russian financial institutions also should close accounts linked to Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programs.
The Russian action came one day after the Swiss federal government halted financial transactions related to North Korea, and imposed expansive restrictions involving imports and exports, operation of airplanes and ships and even education.
The sanctions call on Swiss authorities and banks to freeze North Korean assets and shut down all branches and accounts related to the North’s nuclear and missile programs by June 2.
All exports bound for the North should be approved by the Swiss government, and products like luxury watches, snowmobiles, and golf and ski equipment are prohibited from exports. What’s notable is that North Korean students in Switzerland will not be allowed to take classes on advanced physics, and computer and nuclear engineering.
Sanctions like these must be very painful for Kim Jong-un, who spent his early teenage years in Switzerland and is believed to love luxury goods. The sanctions will surely give a hard time to Kim regarding operation of his slush funds which are believed to amount to $4 billion to $5 billion and stashed in countries like Switzerland, Russia, China, Singapore, Luxembourg and Lichtenstein.
Equally painful will be the sanctions taken by Russia, the North’s former communist ally which Kim may have wanted to turn to as his relations with Chinese leaders have turned sour. All this tells Kim that giving up nukes and missiles is the only way for him to break his country out of the deepening isolation.
