Following a missile test, the United States sanctions three NorthKorean officials

In response to Pyongyang’s most recent and largest intercontinental ballistic missile test last
month, the US imposed penalties on three senior North Korean officials involved in the
country’s nuclear programmes on Thursday, December 1, 2022. The three people were
identified by the U.S. Treasury Department as Jon Il Ho, Yu Jin, and Kim Su Gil; they were
all singled out for penalties by the European Union in April. The most recent penalties come
in response to North Korea’s ICBM test on November 18 and amid worries that it may soon
begin nuclear bomb testing that had been halted since 2017.
According to a Treasury statement, Jon Il Ho and Yu Jin, who were deputy directors and
directors of the North Korean Munitions Industry Department, respectively, played
significant roles in the development of the country’s weapons of mass devastation. According
to the report, Kim Su Gil oversaw the execution of decisions pertaining to the WMD
programme while serving as director of the General Political Bureau of the Korean People’s
Army from 2018 to 2021. The penalties prohibit doing business with the people and freeze
any of their assets located in the US.
China and Russia have obstructed recent attempts to impose additional United Nations
sanctions, arguing that they should be eased in order to jumpstart negotiations and prevent
humanitarian harm. Decades of U.S.-led sanctions have failed to stop North Korea’s
developing missile and nuclear weapon programmes.