US imposes new sanctions on DPRK individuals, entities

WASHINGTON - The US Department of Treasury on Thursday issued new sanctions on seven individuals and three entities of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) over what it called human rights abuses.

"Today's sanctions target the North Korean (DPRK) military and regime officials engaged in flagrant abuses of human rights," US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement.

Pyongyang's financial facilitators "who attempt to keep the regime afloat with foreign currency earned through forced labor operations" were also targeted, Mnuchin added.

Among the sanctioned individuals were DPRK's military security officials and Labor Minister Jong Yong Su. DPRK's consul general in Shenyang, China, and a diplomat at its embassy in Vietnam were also targeted.

As a result of the saction, any property or interests of the designated persons in the US will be blocked and transactions by Americans involving these persons are generally prohibited.

The new moves came a month after the US Department of Treasury slapped sanctions on eight banks and 26 individuals linked to the DPRK financial networks in response to the country's ongoing development of weapons of mass destruction.

The DPRK successfully tested two intercontinental ballistic missile and a hydrogen bomb this year, triggering two new economic sanctions by the UN Security Council.