South Korea has imposed fresh sanctions on eight individuals involved in securing funds for North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs in response to the North’s long-range ballistic missile launch last Monday.

According to Seoul’s foreign ministry on Wednesday, the sanctioned individuals include Ri Chang-ho, director of the Reconnaissance General Bureau(RGB), the North’s primary foreign intelligence service.

The ministry listed Ri for his role as head of the RGB, which is behind North Korea’s cyber hacking groups such as Kimsuky, Lazarus and Andariel, and his involvement in technology theft and foreign currency acquisition through illegal cyber activities.

In April, the UN Security Council's North Korea Sanctions Committee recommended that Ri be sanctioned for leading the already-designated intelligence agency.

The ministry said the seven other individuals named were involved in generating profits by trading materials necessary for weapons production and financing the regime’s nuclear and missile programs.

It was Seoul’s 12th round of independent sanctions against North Korea this year and the 14th since the launch of the Yoon Suk Yeol administration.