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Kim Gunn, Korea’s special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs (left), shakes hands with Brian Nelson, the US Treasury Department’s undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, after a meeting on June 27. (provided by the MOFA)

Kim Gunn, South Korea’s top nuclear envoy, sat down with Brian Nelson, the US official in charge of managing sanctions on North Korea for a meeting in which they appear to have discussed imposing bilateral sanctions on the North in the event that it carries out a seventh nuclear test, as it’s expected to do in the near future.

“Kim Gunn, special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs, and Brian Nelson, undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence at the US Treasury Department, held discussions over lunch in Seoul. Both officials shared the view that North Korea’s efforts to advance its nuclear weapon and missile programs will serve not only to strengthen South Korean and American deterrence but also cause the North to be further isolated from the international community,” South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement Monday.

“While the two officials agreed that the international community will have no choice but to toughen sanctions if North Korea continues to reject dialogue and engage in provocative behavior, they agreed to remain in close communication over Korean Peninsula issues so that North Korea can return to the path of dialogue and diplomacy,” the ministry added.

According to US Treasury Department materials, the key duties of the undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence include cutting off cash streams to terrorist groups, cracking down on financial crimes, enforcing economic sanctions against rogue states, and stopping financial support for the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

The post supervises the Office of Foreign Assets Control, an agency that oversees economic and trade-related sanctions in connection with particular states and administrations, terrorist and criminal groups, and the prevention of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, in line with the aims of US foreign affairs and national security policy. This puts Nelson in charge of the US’ independent sanctions against North Korea.

In a June 10 appearance on Yonhap News TV, South Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs Park Jin was asked about the possibility of South Korea and the US jointly sanctioning the North.

“We’ve extensively examined the matter of independent [South Korean] sanctions against the North [since President Yoon Suk-yeol took office], and we’re currently discussing concrete plans,” he replied.

By Jung In-hwan, staff reporter

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