SEOUL, June 26 (UPI) -- Taiwanese businesses with ties to North Korea were placed under South Korea financial sanctions on Friday.
Seoul's Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Taiwanese firms Global Interface Co. Inc., Trans Merits and Trans Multi Mechanics Co. Ltd., as well as a handful of Taiwanese people were banned from normal trade with South Korea entities, Yonhap reported.
Taiwanese businessman Tsai Hsien-tai of Global Interface was charged with selling precision machine tools to North Korea – equipment that could be refurbished as weapons. Tsai has been charged in a northern Illinois U.S. court for selling the weapons, and was sentenced to two years in prison last March.
The North Korea entity Tsai dealt with, Korea Mining Development Trading Corp., has been under U.S. Treasury sanctions since January 2009. KOMIC is also under U.N. sanctions.
Related
South Korea's Friday announcement marks the first time Seoul is taking action against third-party nationals and businesses for their links to North Korea.
Seoul is aligning itself with Washington's policy of financially isolating supporters of weapons of mass destruction proliferation, according to Yonhap. U.S. Executive Order 13382 has frozen the assets of proliferators of WMDs and their supporters since 2005.
Global Interface subsidiary Trans Merits was charged with supporting North Korea's weapons development. Currently under U.S. sanctions, Trans Merits is banned from regular dealings with South Korea entities, effective Friday.
Tsai's spouse, Su Lu-chi, was blacklisted for abetting North Korea, and Chang Wen-fu of Trans Multi Mechanics is now under both U.S. and South Korea sanctions.
Seven people and organizations in total were placed under Seoul's new financial sanctions, South Korean newspaper Kyunghyang Sinmun reported. They have been added to the government's list of 12 North Koreans and 20 North Korea firms previously blacklisted by Seoul.
A Syrian firm, Scientific Studies and Research Center, was blacklisted for supporting North Korea weapons proliferation. The Damascus-based firm specializes in the development of WMDs, chemical weapons and missile development.
South Korea individuals illicitly dealing with blacklisted firms are to face penalties: a fine of $267,000, or three years in prison.
