US curbs to target North Korea elite
Washington, Aug. 30: The latest target for the United States, as it tries to tighten the screws on North Korea, is a shadowy party organisation, known as Office 39, which raises hard currency to buy fine liquor, exotic food and luxury cars for cronies of North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-il.
The Obama administration on Monday singled out Office 39 as one of several North Korean entities that it says are engaged in illicit activity — fleshing out new sanctions that were first announced in July by the secretary of state, Ms Hillary Rodham Clinton, during a visit to South Korea. Under a new executive order, the United States will try to choke off the flow of luxury goods into North Korea, which officials say Mr Kim uses to buy the loyalty of the political elite, as well as the sale of conventional weapons by the North. The treasury department also designated entities suspected of trafficking in nuclear technology, using existing authority.
“We need to send a signal to the North that provocative behaviour will not go unpunished,” said Robert J. Einhorn, the state department’s special adviser on arms control and non-proliferation issues. “They are not directed at the people of North Korea, but at their leaders.”
(The sanctions also target North Korea’s infrastructure for importing and exporting conventional arms — Green Pine Associated Corporation and its parent, the Reconnaissance General Bureau and bureau’s commander Lt. Gen. Kim Yong Chol. Other entities include two trading firms — Korea Taesong Trading Company and Korea Heungjin Trading Company — that allegedly act on behalf of North Korean arms dealer KOMID in deals involving Iran and Syria, reports PTI.)
The administration’s moves came as Mr Kim returned from a mysterious visit to China last week, during which he met with President Hu Jintao.
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