Anchor: South Korea announced on Friday an expansion to its list of sanctions against North Koreans in coordination with the U.S. The move is part of a larger effort involving Japan and Australia to hold Pyongyang accountable for its spy satellite launch last week.
Tom McCarthy has the details.

Report: South Korea has responded to the North’s launch of a military spy satellite last week with unilateral sanctions against eleven individuals linked to the provocation.

The foreign ministry in Seoul said on Friday that its sanctions applied to North Koreans involved in satellite development, component procurement and ballistic missile research and development.

Some of those designated for satellite development and procurement activity are officials with Pyongyang’s National Aerospace Technology Administration, while others linked to ballistic missile development include munitions industry officials and a trade official with the embassy in Russia.

Seoul’s designations now apply to 75 people and 53 organizations after 13 rounds of updates since last October.

Across the Pacific, the United States also imposed its own sanctions on North Koreans as well as the state-backed hacker group Kimsuky in retaliation for the satellite launch.

The eight individuals sanctioned are, according to the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, associated with the North’s state-owned weapons exporter, financial institutions and shell companies that bring in foreign weapons technology and revenue to fund the programs.

The additions to the two countries’ respective sanctions lists are part of a coordinated response that includes Japan and, for the first time ever, Australia.
Tom McCarthy, KBS World Radio News.