By Kang Hyun-kyung
A top diplomat said Wednesday that Washington is likely to adopt and implement a set of “tailored sanctions” on North Korea in two weeks, emphasizing pressure is not an end in itself.
Under the new framework, the U.S. government will target North Korea’s earnings from criminal activities in order to make the regime, not the people, feel pressure so that they come forward to stop proliferation.
Yu Myung-hwan, minister of foreign affairs and trade, spoke on a radio program that these measures are designed to encourage the North to change its unacceptable behavior and become a responsible member of the international community.
Under the current Executive Order 13382, the U.S. government blocked individuals or firms engaging in activities or transactions that have contributed to the delivery and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD).
As non-WMD related activities such as conventional arms trade, narcotics, counterfeiting currency, drug trafficking, and luxury goods are banned in several dispersed different legislations, the U.S. government is reportedly ready to consolidate all these illicit activities under a unified Executive Order.
Earlier, Robert Einhorn, State Department’s special advisor for non-proliferation and arms control, said the U.S. government will designate entities and individuals involved in these activities and block any property assets they possess that are under the control of a U.S. person or bank.
“By publicly naming these entities, these measures can have the broader effect of isolating them from the international financial and commercial system,” he said during a news conference held in Seoul, Monday.
Currently, the U.S. government has imposed sanctions on 22 North Korean firms, banks and other entities, including Korea Mining Development Trading Corporation, Tanchon Commercial Bank (TCB) and Korea Ryonbong General Corporation.
In addition, Kim Tong-myong, president of the TCB, is subject to a travel ban and a freeze of assets in the United States.
According to Einhorn, the state department is working on finalizing the list of North Korean entities and individuals with links to non-WMD related illicit activities.
Previously there were cases indicating that the North Korean government, diplomats and other individuals were involved in crime-for-profit activities.
Citing a Wall Street Journal report, a Congressional Research Service report revealed the U.S. military estimates that North Korea’s annual drug exports had risen in 2003 to at least $500 million from about $100 million a few years previously.
Back in April 2003, a North Korean ship, named the “Pong Su”, was captured carrying heroin on the eastern sea of Australia by its Navy and the federal police.
The drugs were seized and the crew was charged with drug trafficking.
A North Korean defector said later in an interview with a foreign journalist that all the drugs manufactured in North Korea are controlled by the government directly.
“Right up until I escaped the North, I was ordered by the government to trade drugs with China, Japan, Macau ad Hong Kong,” the defector said.
The Pong Su case, with the support of the North Korean defector’s testimony, suggested that North Korea sponsored crime-for-profit activities in order to earn foreign currency.
It also suggested that along with arms trade, earnings from criminal activities such as drug trafficking and counterfeiting are major sources of hard currency used for proliferation.
About a month after the Pong Su case, William Bach, director of the office of Asia, Africa, and Europe of the U.S. State Department, gave a testimony before U.S. lawmakers in Congress.
According to him, there had been at least 50 arrests and drug seizures involving North Koreans in more than 20 countries around the world since 1976.
“For some 30 years, officials of North Korea and other North Koreans have been apprehended for trafficking in narcotics and other criminal activity, including passing counterfeit U.S. notes,” he was quoted as saying.
In the state department’s report, entitled “International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR)” of March 2006, the state department reaffirms its view that “it is likely, but not certain, that the North Korean government sponsors criminal activities, including narcotics production and trafficking, in order to earn foreign currency for the state and its leaders.”