The United States announced imposing new sanctions on North Korea following its launch of a spy satellite.
The US also sanctioned designated foreign agents accused of helping Pyongyang evade sanctions in order to acquire technology and revenue for its weapons of mass destruction programme.
In addition, the US applied sanctions to cyber espionage group Kimsuky, accusing it of gathering intelligence to support North Korea’s strategic and nuclear aspirations, according to the US Treasury Department’s statement on November 30.
Washington’s decision on the satellite launch was coordinated with Australia, Japan and South Korea. Pyongyang claimed the purpose of the launch was to monitor US and South Korean military activities.
The international community condemned the launch as it violated UN Security Council resolutions prohibiting such moves being made by North Korea. Some speculate that the missile technology could also be used to build ballistic missiles that could potentially be deployed to deliver nuclear weapons.
North Korea claimed after the launch that its spy satellite took images of important US locations, including the White House, but did not release the images, while its ambassador to the UN, Kim Song, defended the launch.
Treasury’s Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, Brian Nelson, stated the following:
“Today’s actions by the United States, Australia, Japan, and the Republic of Korea [the official name of South Korea] reflect our collective commitment to contesting Pyongyang’s illicit and destabilizing activities. We will remain focused on targeting these key nodes in the DPRK’s [North Korea] illicit revenue generation and weapons proliferation.”
South Korea’s Foreign Ministry announced on Friday sanctions against 11 North Koreans, banning them from financial transactions over their involvement in the development of satellites and ballistic missiles in the country.
Separately, Japan’s Foreign Ministry announced the same day that it had imposed sanctions on four entities, including the Kimsuki hacking group, and five individuals for their involvement in North Korea’s nuclear and WMD programmes or activities prohibited by UN Security Council resolutions.
Kimsuki, part of North Korea’s Reconnaissance General Bureau (RGB), has been operating since 2012, according to the Treasury Department.
“Although Kimsuky is primarily an intelligence collection entity, its cyber espionage campaigns directly support the DPRK’s strategic and nuclear ambitions. Kimsuky primarily uses spear-phishing to target individuals employed by government, research centers, think tanks, academic institutions, and news media organizations, including entities in Europe, Japan, Russia, South Korea, and the United States.”
Group members pretend to be reporters or analysts at a think tank to gather intelligence information, including requesting experts and academics to provide answers to questions on topics related to North Korea. Often the attackers impersonate well-known experts before asking them to provide strategic analyses on specific topics.
Kimsuky employs social engineering to collect intelligence on geopolitical events, foreign policy strategies, and diplomatic efforts affecting its interests by gaining illicit access to the private documents, research, and communications of their targets.
Besides the hacking group, the Treasury Department imposed sanctions on Iran and China-based representatives of US and UN-listed Green Pine, a trading company controlled by RGB for overseas sales of North Korean weapons. It also sanctioned two Russian representatives of North Korean banks and a Chinese official for facilitating the North’s overseas operations.
