US punishing North Korean leader for human rights abuses

[webfact]

US punishing North Korean leader for human rights abuses
MATTHEW PENNINGTON, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. imposed sanctions Wednesday on North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and 10 other top officials for human rights abuses in an escalation of Washington's effort to isolate the authoritarian government.

Although North Korea is already sanctioned to the hilt because of its nuclear weapons program, it is the first time that Kim has been personally sanctioned, and the first time that any North Korean officials have been blacklisted in connection with rights abuses, such as running the nation's notorious gulag and running down defectors.

"Under Kim Jong Un, North Korea continues to inflict intolerable cruelty and hardship on millions of its own people, including extrajudicial killings, forced labor, and torture," Adam Szubin, acting under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said in a statement.

Szubin said the sanctions demonstrate the United States' "determination to see them stopped."

The Obama administration — with some prodding from Congress, which passed hard-hitting sanctions legislation in February — has cranked up economic restrictions on Pyongyang since it conducted its latest nuclear test in January.

Wednesday's action coincides with the release of State Department report, mandated by Congress, on human rights abuses in North Korea. Administration officials said it was intended to name and shame responsible officials in North Korea's opaque government, and send a message to lower and mid-ranking officials to think twice before engaging in acts of cruelty and oppression.

"It really for the first time puts them out in the public domain in a way that they haven't been necessarily before," said State Department spokesman John Kirby.

In addition to blacklisting Kim for human rights violations by his government and the ruling Communist Party, the Treasury Department also blacklisted officials at the Ministry of State Security — which administers political prison camps and is engaged in torture and inhumane treatment of detainees — and the Ministry of People's Security which operates a network of police stations, interrogation centers and labor camps.

The State Department said that political prison camps are estimated to hold between 80,000 to 120,000 prisoners, including children and other family members.

Those blacklisted include Choe Pu Il, the minister of people's security; Choe Chang Pong, the director of the ministry's investigations bureau, who is reportedly responsible for monitoring residents in the North Korea-China border area and arresting and interrogating defectors; Cho Il U at the Reconnaissance General Bureau, who reportedly is in charge of overseas espionage operations; and O Chong Kuk, who is reportedly in charge of North Korea's infiltration operations into South Korea.

The penalties, which also hit North Korean agencies responsible for propaganda, freeze any property that sanctioned individuals have within U.S. jurisdiction and prohibit Americans from doing transactions with them.

There are precedents for the U.S. putting heads of state on the Treasury blacklist. Among currently serving leaders, they include Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko.

But blacklisting Kim, the hereditary leader who took power in North Korea after the December 2011 death of his father Kim Jong Il, signals an intensification of U.S. pressure against Pyongyang.

North Korea has repeatedly defied the U.N. Security Council with its nuclear tests and ballistic missile launches. In 2014, a U.N. commission concluded that crimes against humanity had been committed by North Korea and recommended a referral to the International Criminal Court — a step that China, the North's traditional ally and veto-wielding permanent member of the council, opposes.

In all, Treasury imposed penalties on 11 officials and five government entities on Wednesday. Four of the individuals and three of the entities had already been sanctioned.

North Korea is already excluded from the U.S. financial system, so the latest action is largely symbolic. Last month, the Treasury Department declared North Korea a "primary money laundering concern" — the toughest action it can take to discourage banks in any jurisdiction dealing with the country.


-- (c) Associated Press 2016-07-07

[impulse]

Double secret probation?

[Pib]

Oh gosh, this is just going to cause more hate mail from Dear Leader.

[ezzra]

This will hold as long as the fat boy will say that he's willing to " renegotiate " his nuclear arsenal,

in which in time all sanctions will be removed and endless conveys of all sorts of supply will

flow to N. Korea, we have seen that so many times, those N. Korean are too smart for the rest

of the world now that they have the capabilities, allegedly, to strike US territory......

[boomerangutang]

From an Asian perspective, they would have thought it was enough to make a mention of wrongdoing - one country (US) to another (N.Korea). One mention, that's it.

Yet, those types of mentions (from western countries) have been going on for decades, and has caused loss of face for N.Korea and its Kim family. If left to Asians, a single mention + 'loss of face' would suffice. Yet, the US is not restricted to thinking like an Asian country. The US can be tenacious - not only repeating its condemnation of N.Koreas failings, but taking it a step further and naming Fat Boy Kim as culprit. It's doubling the face loss.

Another factor: China is kissing N.Korea's butt by not allowing defectors to migrate to S.Korea. When Chinese police catch a N.Korean who has crossed the frigid Yalu river (some die in their attempts), Chinese send the migrants back to the lion's den where their put in Korean gulags, .....and their families are tortured also. It would be like Europe taking every migrant from M.East and N.Africa, and forcing them back to their counties of origin where they would be put in gulags to die.

[impulse]

Economic sanctions on individuals who have the authority and the equipment to issue themselves dozens of passports in any name they choose?

Good luck with that.

As if the sanctions will hurt anyone but the poor people of N. Korea. The intended have always just siphoned other money off to fund their extravagant lifestyles, leaving the peasants with a little less for rice and heat.

[elgordo38]

This will hold as long as the fat boy will say that he's willing to " renegotiate " his nuclear arsenal,

in which in time all sanctions will be removed and endless conveys of all sorts of supply will

flow to N. Korea, we have seen that so many times, those N. Korean are too smart for the rest

of the world now that they have the capabilities, allegedly, to strike US territory......

I have been listening to this "serious sanctions" crap for 20 years now and its a joke. Who are they trying to fool? I am sure it makes "this dictator" pee his pants with worry. I am sure he is not losing any sleep over it. Time and again he has sucked the West into "negotiations" and end up with tons of oil and food signed false agreements and then in a couple months continues on his merry way of disrupting the world order. I would hate to play chess with this guy as he has out manouvered his opponents much like his father did before him. He comes out from under the Chinese umbrella from time to time and thumbs his nose at the west and then scurries back underneath. They give him a long leash and slap his hand from time to time.

[IAMHERE]

The USA needs to develop a Neutron Bomb so we can just kill people and not destroy the infrastructure. I'd accept a million dead bystanders if for sure we got the top leader.

[billd766]

The USA needs to develop a Neutron Bomb so we can just kill people and not destroy the infrastructure. I'd accept a million dead bystanders if for sure we got the top leader.

How nice that you would be willing to accept a million innocent peoples deaths to ensure the death of one person.

Would it be acceptable to you if all your family and extended family for 3 or 4 generations could be included in the death toll?

You, of course, would be allowed to survive.

Have a nice day with your thoughts.

[GOLDBUGGY]

Ad as many sanctions as you want to, but no matter how you cut the cake these guys will still be eating Prime Beef for Dinner with Imported French Wine and play there American Video Games afterwards. The only way they can stop them is to get them behind bars.