Bush Freezes U.S. Assets of Companies Involved in North Korea’s WMD Proliferation

On June 29 the U.S. froze the current and potential assets of three North Korean companies that seemed to be involved in proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs). The U.S. president George W. Bush signed an executive order to freeze all the U.S. assets of eight companies of three countries that seem to be directly or indirectly related to the nuclear proliferation of North Korea, Iran and Syria.

The decision will be applied not only to the eight companies listed in the attached document but also to the American and non-American companies that transact with those eight companies. The three North Korean companies are the Korea Mining Development Trading Corporation, Danchon Commercial Bank and the Joseon Ryonbong General Corporation, but they do not possess assets within the US.

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Along with the decision, president Bush announced a plan to relocate the mission manager under the National Intelligence Director. The National Intelligence Director is in charge of developing intelligence strategies and moderating intelligence collection and analysis process of various intelligence agencies covering the region and nations that the U.S. has the highest priorities of intelligence for.

Soon-Taek Kwon maypole@donga.com