<Anchor> For the
first time since the Biden administration took office, North Korea sanctions cards were pulled out. It is interpreted as a measure to bring North Korea, which has not responded to proper dialogue, to the denuclearization negotiating table.
Correspondent Kim Jung-woo.
<Reporter>
The sanctions include the North Korean Central Prosecutors' Office, 10 organizations including China and Myanmar, and 15 personnel.
Regarding the North Korean Central Prosecutors' Office, the US Treasury Department explained the reason for the sanctions, saying that it is "exercising unfair law enforcement."
It is said that the freedom and human rights of North Koreans were taken away through forced labor and constant surveillance.
For the same reason, North Korean Defense Minister Ri Yong-gil, who is also South Korea's defense minister, was also added to the list of sanctions targets.
Companies that provide illegal overseas employment for North Korean workers who are abused as a means of earning foreign currency were also included in the sanctions.
A North Korean film studio has been subject to sanctions for illegally employing animation producers in China, and a Russian university has been sanctioned for granting Russian construction worker visas to North Korean university students.
In the meantime, the Biden administration's policy of sanctions against North Korea has been at the level of extending the previous government's measures, such as extending travel bans and maintaining the list of countries of special concern for religious freedom, but it seems that they have decided that new measures are necessary to bring North Korea to the denuclearization negotiating table.
In fact, the Biden administration has started to resume dialogue with North Korea since April, but so far has not received much response.
If North Korea strongly opposes this measure, it may become more difficult to resume dialogue between the US and North Korea, so attention is drawn to North Korea's attitude.