hankyoreh

By Jeon Jeong-yun, staff reporter

On Feb. 18 (local time), the European Union (EU) agreed on measures to impose additional sanctions on North Korea.

At a meeting in Brussels, the foreign ministers of the twenty-seven EU member states agreed to impose additional sanctions on North Korea in response to its Feb. 12 nuclear test. The wide range of sanctions includes restrictions on finance and trade, ban travel, and freeze assets.

The EU has expanded the sanctions against the North agreed upon by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on Jan. 22. In its resolution, the UNSC added the North Korean Outer Space Technology Committee, one bank, four trading companies, and four individuals to the sanctions blacklist. But through these additional measures, the EU has extended travel prohibitions and asset freezing to 26 North Korean individuals and 33 North Korean organizations.

The measures ban imports and exports of the type of aluminum that North Korea needs to make a ballistic missile system, as well as transactions involving North Korean government bonds. In addition, the ban covers trade in gold, precious metals, and diamonds with North Korean government organizations and the delivery of new bills and coins to the North Korean central bank. It also forbids North Korean banks from opening new branches within the EU or setting up companies in partnership with European financial institutions, and prohibits EU banks from taking part in these activities in North Korea. However, EU foreign ministers did not confirm whether North Korea currently has any bank branches inside the EU.

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