(LEAD) U.S. blacklists N. Korean firm for involvement in WMD proliferation

(ATTN: UPDATES with more details, background throughout)
By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, July 30 (Yonhap) -- The United States Thursday blacklisted a North
Korean firm for its involvement in the proliferation of weapons of mass
destruction, which were banned by U.N. resolutions after North Korea's nuclear
and missile tests.

"The U.S. Treasury Department today designated a North Korean entity, the Korea
Hyoksin Trading Corporation, under Executive Order 13382 for being owned or
controlled by a North Korean entity, the Korea Ryonbong General Corporation," the
department said in a statement.
Executive Order 13382 "freezes the assets of proliferators of weapons of mass
destruction and their supporters, and it prohibits U.S. persons from engaging in
any transactions with them, thereby isolating them from the U.S. financial and
commercial systems," the statement said.
Adam J. Szubin, director of Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control, said,
"The world community is taking forceful action against the arms and agencies of
North Korea's WMD and missile programs, prohibiting dealings with them and
banning them from participation in the global financial system. We will continue
to do our part to identify and sanction such entities."
Hyoksin is among five North Korean firms blacklisted by the U.N. Security Council
earlier this month under resolution 1874, adopted after North Korea's second
nuclear test on May 25.
Ryonbong was among three North Korean firms targeted by the Security Council in
2006 under resolution 1718, adopted after the North's first nuclear test.
Thursday's statement cited Hyoksin for "being subordinate to Ryonbong and for its
involvement in the development of WMD," adding Ryonbong "specializes in
acquisition for North Korean defense industries and support to Pyongyang's
military-related sales."
The U.S. already has its own list of several North Korean firms being subjected
to asset freeze and transaction ban, and the additional listing comes days after
Washington and Beijing agreed Tuesday at a strategic dialogue to cooperate
closely on implementing U.N. resolutions on sanctioning North Korea.
The U.N. Security Council blacklisted five North Korean firms earlier this month,
imposed a travel ban on and froze the assets of five North Korean officials, and
banned the trade to and from North Korea of graphite for electrical discharge
machining and aramid fiber, used in nuclear weapons and missiles.
The listing of the five North Korean officials is said to be a compromise between
China and the U.S. and its allies amid skepticism of the effectiveness of the new
sanctions on North Korea, already one of the world's most heavily sanctioned
countries.
China, North Korea's staunchest communist ally, has often been accused of
disregarding previous U.N. resolutions against North Korea, which is heavily
dependent on its communist neighbor for food, energy and other necessities.
The Beijing government does not want any instability on its border with North
Korea as Beijing is gearing up to be an economic power in the coming decades to
match the world's superpower, the U.S., according to some analysts.
In an apparent effort to soothe concerns over the implementation of the sanctions
on North Korea, Philip Goldberg, U.S. interagency coordinator for implementation
of the sanctions on North Korea, said in New York earlier in the day that U.N.
member states are in unity in sanctioning the North.
"That's the case, certainly, with our Chinese partners," Goldberg said after a
closed-door session of the Security Council's sanctions committee. He is set to
travel to Moscow and some Asian capitals in the coming days to discuss sanctions
on North Korea, the second such trip in about a month.
Reports said that Chinese customs officials recently seized 70 kgs of vanadium, a
strategic metal used for missile parts and other weapons of mass destruction, on
the border with North Korea.
Some analysts, however, downplayed it, and are still suspicious over whether
China fully supports international sanctions.
They note such seizures often took place along the China-North Korea border and
this latest incident coincided with the new sanctions resolutions by the U.N.
hdh@yna.co.kr
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