Politics

Japan sanctions more entities linked to North Korean weapons programs

Tokyo, Dec 2 (EFE).- Japan announced Friday the inclusion of three entities and one individual to its list of sanctions imposed over North Korea’s weapons programs, measures it has tightened in step with the intensification of the missile tests from the neighboring country.

The entities affected by measures such as the freezing of assets in the archipelago are the North Korean commercial houses Haegumgang and Namgang, and the group of hackers Lazarus. The hackers are thought to be linked to the regime, which in previous months publicly threatened and knocked down websites of various government entities and other institutions.

The individual added to the Japanese sanctions list is North Korean citizen Kim Su-il, based in Vietnam as a representative of the Ammunition Industry Department, the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.

Japan increased the sanctions on North Korea following the Nov. 18 launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile that landed in the waters of its exclusive economic zone.

This was carried out in coordination with the US and South Korea, which also announced new measures Friday aimed at curbing Pyongyang’s missile and nuclear development programs.

The unilateral Japanese sanctions announced Friday follow others that the country imposed in October (following the test of a missile that flew over Japanese territory) and in April, when the country launched another intercontinental ballistic missile, the first of this type it had been imposing since 2017.

Tensions on and around the Korean peninsula are reaching unprecedented heights in the face of repeated North Korean weapons tests at an unprecedented rate, allied maneuvers strongly protested by Pyongyang, and its apparent intention to carry out his first nuclear test since 2017. EFE

mra/lds

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