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| ▲ Lee Jun-il, the foreign ministry's director-general for North Korean nuclear affairs, briefs reporters on South Korea's independent sanctions on North Korea's weapons-financing activities at the ministry in Seoul on June 28, 2023. (Yonhap) |
(LEAD) S Korea-NK sanctions
(LEAD) S. Korea sanctions Russian individual involved in Pyongyang's illegal weapons-financing activities
(ATTN: ADDS byline, comments from ministry official in paras 6-8; REPLACES photo)
By Yi Wonju
SEOUL, June 28 (Yonhap) -- South Korea on Wednesday imposed unilateral sanctions on a Russian individual of Korean descent involved in the illegal financing of Pyongyang's weapons of mass destruction programs, Seoul's foreign ministry said.
Choi Chon Gon of Russia was among the total of four entities -- two individuals and two organizations -- newly added to Seoul's sanctions list against Pyongyang's nuclear and missile development programs, according to the ministry.
Choi, previously a South Korean national, founded a North Korea front company named Hanne Ulaan LCC in Mongolia for the purpose of evading international sanctions while securing funding for Pyongyang's weapons programs.
He is also accused of having supported Pyongyang's illegal financing by establishing Epsilon, a Russia-based trading firm, through a joint investment partnership with So Myong, head of the North's Foreign Trade Bank branch in Vladivostok.
The three other entities newly added to the sanctions list were So, Hanne Ulaan and Epsilon.
"Our government's unilateral sanctions on Choi and the others will help raise awareness both in the country and abroad to prevent activities that violate sanctions," Lee Jun-il, the director-general for North Korean nuclear affairs, said.
Choi is known to have departed for Russia while being investigated in South Korea for an alleged financial crime, and appears to have obtained Russian citizenship afterward, a ministry official told reporters on condition of anonymity.
The official said Choi currently runs other businesses in Vladivostok and maintains close ties with the Korean community there.
The announcement marks the Seoul's ninth unilateral sanctions measure against the North since the launch of the Yoon Suk Yeol administration in May last year, and the first time adding an international individual of Korean descent to the blacklist.
A total of 45 individuals and 47 agencies have been added to the sanctions list since Yoon came to office.
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