SEOUL, July 14 (UPI) -- South Korea slapped sanctions on four North Korean individuals and three entities in response to the regime's launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile earlier this week, Seoul's Foreign Ministry announced Friday.
The targets of the sanctions include high-ranking North Korean officials and businesses involved in the financing of Pyongyang's illicit nuclear and missile programs.
The move was made "in response to North Korea's launch of a long-range ballistic missile on July 12, which threatens the peace and security of the Korean Peninsula and the international community," the Foreign Ministry said in a press release.
North Korea test-fired its new Hwasong-18 solid-fuel ICBM on Wednesday, drawing widespread international condemnation and prompting an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council.
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Among the sanctioned individuals are officials Jong Kyong Thaek, director of the General Political Bureau overseeing the North Korean military, and Park Kwang Ho, the former propaganda director of the regime.
Also blacklisted are Park Hwa Song and Hwang Kil Su, who run the company Congo Aconde, which is based in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and earns revenue for the North through construction and statue-building projects with local governments.
The company itself was sanctioned along with Chilsong Trading Corp. and Korea Paekho Trading Corp.
Friday's announcement marks the 10th round of unilateral sanctions against North Korea under the administration of President Yoon Suk-yeol and brings the total number of targets to 49 individuals and 50 entities.
"The South Korean government has made it clear that North Korea's provocations will inevitably come at a price," the ministry said. "Our government will continue to strengthen close cooperation with the international community, including the United States and Japan, so that North Korea can clearly realize this fact, stop creating tension and engage in denuclearization talks."
Washington and Seoul have shored up their military cooperation over the past year, holding several large-scale joint exercises that Pyongyang has repeatedly condemned as preparations for an invasion.
Yoon and U.S. President Joe Biden adopted the Washington Declaration in April, a nuclear cooperation pact that pledged to further enhance the deployment of strategic assets on the Korean Peninsula, including the first visit by a nuclear ballistic missile submarine in decades.
The allies conducted joint air drills involving at least one U.S. B-52H strategic bomber on Thursday, Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a message to reporters.
