In defiance of UN resolutions, Japan and South Korea on Friday unveiled separate sanctions packages aimed at businesses, ships, or people purportedly involved in providing North Korean weaponry to Russia for use in Ukraine.
Experts have speculated that Pyongyang’s latest testing spree may have involved weaponry intended for use on Ukrainian battlefields. Pyongyang is accused by South Korea of transferring thousands of containers filled with munitions to Russia.
Similar penalties were imposed in August by the US Treasury Department, which said that Russia was running out of ammunition and losing heavy equipment in Ukraine, leaving Moscow to rely on its few friends, notably Pyongyang, for assistance.
Japan’s top government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi said Friday the country “strongly condemns” the alleged deals.
“We have cooperated with allies like the United States to freeze the assets of 11 groups and one individual involved in the Russia-North Korea military assistance meant to support Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine,” he told reporters.
“It violates the UN security resolutions that categorically ban the transfer with North Korea of weapons and related materials,” he said.
Japan’s Asahi newspaper reported that nine of the groups and the individual were in Russia while the other two organisations, based in Cyprus, allegedly helped transport weapons from North Korea.
On Friday, South Korea also imposed sanctions of its own against seven North Koreans and two Russian warships for a variety of offenses, including allegedly engaging in the trade of military supplies between Pyongyang and Moscow.
Seoul’s foreign ministry released a statement stating that the ships were “carrying a large quantity of containers between Russia and North Korea transporting military supplies”.
Last week, Pyongyang declared that it had “no intention to export our military technical capabilities to any country,” refuting claims that it was sending weapons to Russia.
However, relations with Moscow have recently strengthened for the mainly isolated state.
North Korea thanked Russia last month for using its UN Security Council veto to block the renewal of a panel of experts that monitored international sanctions on leader Kim Jong Un’s regime.
Seoul said Friday that one of the newly sanctioned North Koreans was allegedly involved in discussions to facilitate arms deals with a member of Russia’s Wagner group from 2022 to 2023.
It further stated that another was involved in smuggling diesel into North Korea from Russia, a vital component of Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile development projects.
Five more North Koreans were living “illegally in Vladivostok” and earning foreign currency as IT workers, all while contributing to the efforts to gather money for Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programs.
The declarations made on Friday occur a few days before the first trilateral meeting between the leaders of China, Japan, and South Korea takes place in Seoul, Korea, and nearly five years ago.
