U.N. committee sanctions 3 N. Korean firms

NEW YORK, April 24 (Yonhap) -- The United Nations Friday imposed financial and
trade sanctions on three North Korean companies in the wake of North Korea's
rocket launch in early April.
They are the Korea Mining Development Trading Corporation, the Korea Ryonbong
General Corporation and Tanchon Commercial Bank, said Turkish U.N. Ambassador
Baki Ilkin, who heads the Security Council's sanctions committee.
The agreement to slap sanctions on the North Korean firms comes nearly two weeks
after the 15-member U.N. Security Council adopted a presidential statement to
rebuke North Korea's April 5 rocket launch and call for the committee to list
North Korean firms and goods to be sanctioned.
The three are a compromise between the U.S. and Japan, which had presented more
than 10 North Korean firms, and China and Russia, which wanted to minimize the
number so as not to provoke North Korea further, informed sources said.
North Korea has threatened to boycott the six-party nuclear talks with South
Korea, the U.S., China, Japan and Russia, restart its nuclear facilities being
disabled under a six-party deal and strengthen its nuclear arsenal.
Pyongyang insists the launch was part of its space program to send a satellite
into space, while Washington and its allies believe it was a disguised ballistic
missile test.
The presidential statement, the outcome of veto-wielding China's opposition to
any legally binding resolution, has set Friday as the deadline for the committee
to present a list of North Korean firms and goods to be subject to trade and arms
sanctions under Resolution 1718, which was adopted after North Korea's ballistic
missile and nuclear tests in 2006.
The resolution has since been neglected due to lack of proper implementation
measures.
hdh@yna.co.kr
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