World / Americas US slaps sanctions on North Korean entities for human rights abuses BL PREMIUM

Washington — On Thursday, the US imposed sanctions on seven North Korean individuals and three entities for "flagrant" human rights abuses, including killings, torture, forced labour and the hunting down of asylum seekers abroad. "Today’s sanctions target the North Korean military and regime officials," US treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement. "We are also targeting North Korean financial facilitators who attempt to keep the regime afloat with foreign currency earned through forced labour operations." Among those sanctioned were the director and the deputy director of the Military Security Command, the first vice-minister of the Ministry of People’s Security and the labour minister. North Korea’s consul-general in Shenyang, China, and a diplomat at its embassy in Vietnam were also sanctioned. "We are especially concerned with the North Korean military, which operates as secret police, punishing all forms of dissent," the statement said. "Further, the military operat...