South Korea has sanctioned a Russian national for his alleged involvement in financing North Korea’s illegal weapons program, authorities said on Wednesday.
Choi Chon Gon, a former South Korean national now a Russian national, is accused by Seoul of having founded a North Korean front company in Mongolia which finances Pyongyang’s illegal arms program in violation of international sanctions.
According to Seoul, Choi also runs a trading company established in Russia under an investment partnership with the branch manager of the Pyongyang Foreign Trade Bank in Vladivostok. These are the first “unilateral sanctions” imposed by the South Korean government on a person of South Korean origin, the Seoul Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
South Korea has also sanctioned the North Korean head of the Bank of Pyongyang branch in Vladivostok, as well as the two companies founded by Mr. Choi.
After talks between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and ex-US President Donald Trump broke down in 2019, North Korea conducted a series of weapons tests, including test firings. intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs).
Since an escalation of tensions in 2019 with its neighbor, North Korea has thus accelerated its military development and declared itself, in 2022, an “irreversible” nuclear power.
South Korea has sanctioned a Russian national for his alleged involvement in financing North Korea’s illegal weapons program, authorities said on Wednesday.
Choi Chon Gon, a former South Korean national now of Russian nationality, is accused by Seoul of having founded a front company…
2023-06-28 11:40:19
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