U.S. Imposes New Human Rights Sanctions On North Korea

They are among a total of 15 North Korean officials and eight agencies, against whom the State Department recommended sanctions in a human rights report submitted to Congress.

North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un has weight issues according to South Korea’s spy agency, which states that he has put on around 40 kilos since becoming the country’s head of state in 2012.

Sanctioning Kim Jong-un and others will not only have a direct financial impact on the North Korean regime but could also have powerful secondary reverberations.

Both the US and the United Nations have increased pressure on North Korea since Pyongyang carried out its fourth nuclear weapons test in January.

The report listed those responsible for the commission of serious human rights abuses and censorship in North Korea, in a list topped by the North Korean leader.

This is the first time that the US has designated North Korean entities for human rights abuses. United Nations officials are even considering ways to bring Pyongyang to justice through the International Criminal Court.

There are precedents for the US putting heads of state on the Treasury blacklist.

South Korean Army soldiers and rescue team members search for missing people at the Imjin River in Yeoncheon, north of Seoul, South Korea, Sept. 8, 2009.

State Department spokesman John Kirby said the sanctions were not just symbolic and could be picked up and observed by other countries now that they have been implemented by the United States.

The U.S. State Department last Thursday also released its “Trafficking in Persons Report 2016” in which it described that “forced labor is part of an established system of political repression” in North Korea. South Korea’s National Intelligence Service says a senior military official fell asleep at a military rally previous year near Pyongyang….and Dear Respected Comrade Kim had him executed.

Among the individuals listed is the North Korean minister of public security, which monitors the activities of North Korean people and uses torture to keep them in line, and people responsible for prison operations and prosecuting North Koreans trying to flee the country.

North Korea has always been labeled as one of the worst human rights violators.

USA officials say there’s been an effort to draw attention to the human rights abuses in North Korea for some time.