The United States has imposed sanctions, including asset freezes, on two men and a Russian company alleging they helped finance North Korean efforts to develop weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles, the government said Thursday.
The Treasury Department said Washington acted in response to North Korea’s failed attempt to launch a military satellite last week, in coordination with Japan and South Korea.
The measures targeting a North Korean man and a Russian man as well as Intellekt LLC of Russia seek to curtail efforts to generate revenue to be put toward Pyongyang’s “unlawful development of weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles,” it said.
The department alleged the North Korean man worked as an executive of a separate Russian company that was owned by the Russian man and made North Korean construction laborers work in Russia.
The North Korean also led a group of information technology workers from his country and helped them obtain documents so they could legally work as freelancers, it alleged.
Intellekt was awarded a contract for a construction project in Moscow which was coordinated by the North Korean man, the department said.
On Aug. 24, North Korea launched a rocket that carried a reconnaissance satellite, but it did not go into orbit due to an error in the emergency blasting system, marking it Pyongyang’s second failed satellite launch attempt in three months.
Brian Nelson, Treasury’s undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said the United States will continue to coordinate closely with South Korea and Japan to combat North Korea’s “unlawful and destructive activities.”
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North Korea launched 2 ballistic missiles late on Aug. 30: KCNA
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North Korea fails in military satellite launch,vows to try again in October
