US slaps sanctions on 2 more N. Korean companies

The U.S. slapped sanctions Thursday on two North Korean companies suspected of being linked to a group believed to be managing the coffers of the North`s leader Kim Jong Il.

The U.S. Treasury`s Office of Foreign Assets Control added Korea Daesong Bank and Korea Daesong General Trading Corp. to a list of North Korean entities subject to sanctions, unveiling the companies’ locations, phone numbers and e-mail addresses.

The Treasury described the two entities as “nodes of the illicit financing network” of Office 39 of the North`s Korean Workers’ Party believed to be managing the funds of the leadership of the Stalinist regime.

Washington said the bank is involved in the North’s illegal financial projects and the trading company is making external transactions on behalf of Office 39. The Treasury called Office 39 a secret organization involved in Pyongyang`s illegal economic activities, management of secret political funds, and profit-generating activities for the communist country’s leadership.

“Korea Daesong Bank and Korea Daesong General Trading Corp. are key components of Office 39’s financial network supporting North Korea’s illicit and dangerous activities,” Treasury Under Secretary Stuart Levey said in a statement.

He added that his department will continue to use its authority to track and prevent activities by financial network organizations involved in the North’s illegal activities.

The move came after reports said the North built a light-water nuclear reactor and is conducting activities at a place where a nuclear test was carried out.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Philip J. Crowley told a briefing for foreign correspondents in Washington Thursday that sanctions against North Korean organizations and individuals will continue to stop Pyongyang’s nuclear proliferation.

Washington is “the most concerned” over Pyongyang’s history of spreading “dangerous technologies” to other countries, he said, and sanctions against the North will further isolate North Korean organizations suspected of illegal or proliferation risk activities.

yhchoi65@donga.com