Global Security Newswire

U.S. President Barack Obama last week signed an executive order that expands financial sanctions on North Korea by targeting four senior regime officials and eight firms with new penalties (see GSN, Aug. 27).

"The order targets the government of North Korea’s continued involvement in a wide range of proliferation and other illicit activities in defiance of UN Security Council Resolutions (UNSCRs) 1718 and 1874 and other illicit activities in defiance of international norms," the U.S. Treasury Department said in a release. "The order directs the secretary of the treasury, in consultation with the secretary of state, to target for sanctions individuals and entities facilitating North Korean trafficking in arms and related materiel; procurement of luxury goods; and engagement in illicit economic activities, such as money laundering, the counterfeiting of goods and currency, bulk cash smuggling and narcotics trafficking."

The department added: "This new executive order supplements existing U.S. sanctions targeting proliferators of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and those who support them, under which North Korean entities and individuals have been designated to date" (U.S. Treasury Department/America.gov, Aug. 30).

Pyongyang's secretive Office 39, which is thought to be a division of the Korean Workers' Party, was among the sanctioned entities.The office raises funds for the purchase of luxury items such as alcohol and flashy vehicles for leader Kim Jong Il's inner circle, Treasury Undersecretary Stuart Levey said.

"The destructive course that the North Korean government is charting is facilitated by a lifeline of cash generated through a range of illicit activities," he said. "North Korea’s government helps maintain its authority by placating privileged elites with money and perks."

Also blacklisted were the Reconnaissance General Bureau, a suspected proliferator of conventional weapons; its commander, Lt. Gen. Kim Yong Chol; and a subsidiary, the Green Pine Associated Corp., Levey said. Penalties were levied as well against the Korea Taesong Trading Co., Korea Heungjin Trading Co., Munitions Industry Department, Second Academy of Natural Sciences, and Second Economic Committee.

Suspected former chief of the plutonium-producing Yongbyon nuclear complex Ri Hong Sop, suspected head of the Atomic Energy General Bureau Ri Je Son and Yun Ho Jin were also sanctioned.

"The president decided that North Korea’s continued provocative actions -- such as its unprovoked attack on the South Korean naval ship Cheonan in March ... its test of a nuclear device and missile launches in 2009, its violations of U.N. Security Council resolutions … and its illicit and deceptive practices in international markets -- justify additional sanctions," Levey said to journalists.

Levey said Pyongyang earns millions of dollars each year from illicit weapon sales and underground activities.

State Department special adviser for nonproliferation and arms control Robert Einhorn emphasized the latest sanctions would not target ordinary North Koreans (U.S. State Department release, Sept. 1).

South Korean news reports verified by intelligence officials in the country assert that the North is exporting weapons overland through China and has given new identifies to its arms dealing firms as part of efforts to evade U.N. Security Council sanctions, the Vancouver Sun reported Friday.

It is not known if the Chinese government and state-managed Chinese firms are aiding Pyongyang's efforts to export weapons and possibly nuclear equipment to nations like Iran, Myanmar and Syria. China is the Stalinist state's top benefactor.

It is plausible the North has struck deals with Chinese firms and local officials without the permission of Beijing, according to the newspaper (Jonathan Manthorpe, Vancouver Sun, Sept. 3).

Beijing is presently lobbying fellow participants of the moribund six-party nuclear talks to resume negotiations over North Korean nuclear disarmament. China claims it has the support of the reclusive Kim in this effort, the Washington Post reported last Wednesday.

The six-party talks also involve Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States. They were last held in December 2008. The talks propose to reward North Korea's permanent denuclearization with large infusions of foreign aid and security guarantees.

Chinese envoy to the six-nation talks Wu Dawei has traveled in recent days to Tokyo, Seoul and Washington, which have all said they would not participate in nuclear negotiations until Pyongyang acknowledges its role in the sinking of the Cheonan and takes steps to demonstrate its commitment to nuclear disarmament.

Beijing has suggested a three-part framework for restarting formal negotiations that would begin with direct talks between the United States and the North, followed by a meeting of top nuclear envoys from the six nations and ending with the official resumption of nuclear negotiations in Beijing.

Last Wednesday, Wu was slated to meet with Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg, Assistant Secretary Kurt Campbell, North Korea special envoy Stephen Bosworth and six nation talks envoy Sung Kim. Experts predict an outcome in which Bosworth would travel to East Asia to advance the process.

"We want to see North Korea take irreversible steps to fulfill its denuclearization commitments," State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said. "If we see evidence that North Korea is prepared to move in that direction, then we are open to further engagement."

Observers and analysts say there is a pervading cynicism in Washington on the efficacy of the nuclear negotiations. Kim in the past has used the talks to win foreign concessions in return for some limited moves toward denuclearization, only to reverse course later.

Kim made a rare trip to China in late August that was viewed by experts as an attempt to win foreign aid from Beijing and to boost his efforts to cement the transfer of power to his youngest son, Kim Jong Un.

State-run Chinese news organizations reported Kim asked for an "early resumption" to negotiations as a path to lowering regional tensions and reaffirmed Pyongyang's position on moving toward denuclearization.

"It's just stretching incredulity to think that six-party talks are some panacea where the region's problems disappear," Center for a New American Security analyst Patrick Cronin said. "This is the same Kim Jong Il who said, months ago, that six-party talks are dead. And now what are we to believe? That Kim Jong Il is very serious this time?"

Seoul is seen to be particularly opposed to returning to nuclear talks. However, in recent weeks, the South has indicated it might be softening its stance on the North following months of high tensions. Late last month, South Korea's foreign minister called on Pyongyang to render inoperable its nuclear weapons facilities and to allow foreign monitors back into the country.

Relying on an unidentified Foreign Ministry official, the Yonhap News Agency reported Seoul might no longer require an apology for the Cheonan attack as a prerequisite to re-engagement. South Korean charities have also raised millions in flood aid for the badly hit North.

Japan may not be softening, though. Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada told China's visiting Wu last week that negotiations should not resume while North Korea continues its nuclear weapons development.

Observers say the Obama administration is increasingly open to some kind of dialogue with Pyongyang.

"I think the administration's feeling right now is, they're not comfortable with having zero contact with the regime," former National Security Council Asia specialist Michael Green said (Chico Harlan, Washington Post, Sept. 1).

Meanwhile, Pyongyang's state-controlled media reported that Workers' Party representatives from all over the North were coming to the capital. The Stalinist state is expected to be readying for a party congress that is seen to be part of efforts to secure Kim Jong Un's place as successor to his ailing father, the New York Times reported.

Watchers are looking to see if the younger Kim is named to any key party positions. The last such political gathering occurred in 1980, when Kim Jong Il was given top party positions (Choe Sang-hun, New York Times, Sept. 6).