UN blasts NK missile launch; EU, Japan tighten sanctions

The UN Security Council on Thursday condemned North Korea’s recent tests of ballistic missiles and a rocket engine, as the European Union and Japan tightened individual sanctions against the recalcitrant regime.

The press statement was unanimously adopted at the UNSC, the fourth such action this year, calling the tests “highly destabilizing behavior and flagrant and provocative defiance” of its resolutions. 

In the latest launch Wednesday, a missile flew about 60 kilometers before falling into the East Sea. Washington officials reportedly assessed that the projectile was a mid-range Scud ER and suffered an inflight malfunction, though Seoul said it was an intermediate-range KN-15, also known as the Pukguksong-2.

Pyongyang has also carried out three rounds of missile liftoffs and tested a new rocket engine since February, deemed preparations for the launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile.

“The members of the Security Council deplore all (North Korea’s) ballistic missile activities,” the statement reads, adding they are contributing to its development of nuclear weapon delivery systems and are significantly increasing tensions in the region and beyond.

Seoul’s Foreign Ministry welcomed the statement, noting all UNSC members, including China and Russia, have joined in taking a “swift and resolute” step against Pyongyang’s provocations.

With the US chairing the council this month, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is expected to convene a meeting in New York for the first time to discuss the North Korean nuclear issues. Last month, Washington newly blacklisted a North Korean trading firm and 11 individuals over their suspected links to its nuclear and missile programs.

In Brussels, the European Union on Thursday unveiled a fresh set of sanctions against the communist state, targeting its metal, aerospace and arms industries, as well as services in computing, mining, chemicals and refining.

The 28-member bloc also added four North Koreans to its own blacklist, pushing up the total to 41 who are subject to travel bans and asset freezes.

“The EU decided to expand the prohibition on investments in the DPRK (North Korea) to new sectors, namely the conventional arms-related industry, metallurgy and metalworking, and aerospace,” the Council of the European Union said in a statement.

“The Council also agreed to prohibit the provision of certain services to persons or entities in the DPRK, namely computer services and services linked to mining and manufacturing in the chemical, mining and refining industry.”

Seoul called the measure a “stern message” to the Kim Jong-un regime and “another crucial progress” in global efforts to tighten the screws on the defiant country.

“In particular, it has significance in that the EU banned services in chemicals and computing given the North Korean regime’s use of a chemical weapon in the assassination of Kim Jong-nam, and ongoing dispatch of disguised information technology experts, evasion of sanctions through cyber hacking, and unabated attempts to secure new funding sources,” the ministry said.

On Friday, Japan extended its unilateral North Korea sanctions for two more years, barring trade and the entry of ships, including for humanitarian purposes.

Tokyo imposed the port entry ban in 2006 and the trade embargo in 2009. In December, it increased the list of banned vessels and newly designated 11 entities and 18 people subject to asset freezes. 

By Shin Hyon-hee (heeshin@heraldcorp.com)