In violation of UN resolutions, Japan and South Korea have announced separate sanctions against businesses, vessels, or individuals allegedly providing North Korean weapons to Russia for use in Ukraine.
Friday’s announcements come just days before the leaders of South Korea, Japan and China meet in Seoul for their first trilateral summit in nearly five years.
Experts claim that Pyongyang’s recent testing spree may contain weapons meant for use on Ukrainian battlefields is due to the recent allegations that Pyongyang has sent thousands of containers of munitions to Russia.
On Friday, Japan’s top government spokesperson Yoshimasa Hayashi said Tokyo “strongly condemns” the alleged deals.
He told reporters, “We have worked with allies like the United States to freeze the assets of 11 groups and one person who received military support from Russia and North Korea in order to support Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.”
It violates UN Security Resolutions, which expressly forbid the transfer of weapons and related materials to North Korea.
Nine of the organizations and the person were located in Russia, according to the Japanese newspaper Asahi, while Cyprus’s other two organizations are accused of aiding in the transportation of weapons from North Korea.
In August, the US Treasury Department imposed similar sanctions as it said Russia was using up munitions and losing heavy equipment in Ukraine, forcing Moscow to turn to its few allies, including Pyongyang, for support.
Russia has been fighting Ukraine since 2014, and it launched a full-scale invasion of its former Soviet satellite state in 2022.
Moscow – Pyongyang ties
Additionally, on Friday, South Korea imposed its own sanctions on seven North Koreans and two Russian vessels for allegedly facilitating trade between Moscow and Pyongyang.
According to Seoul’s foreign ministry, the ships were “moving a large number of containers between Russia and North Korea to transport military supplies.”
Pyongyang denied last week’s allegations that it was sending weapons to Russia, saying it had no intention of bringing its military technical arsenal into any nation.
However, North Korea’s recent cooperation with Moscow increased.
Last month, North Korea thanked Russia for using its veto of the UN Security Council to appoint a panel of experts to monitor the regime’s international sanctions.
One of the newly sanctioned North Koreans allegedly engaged in discussions to facilitate arms deals with a Wagner Group member from 2022 to 2023, according to Seoul on Friday.
Another was involved in North Korea’s nuclear and missile development programs, it added, and Russia had also been involved in bringing diesel from Russia.
Five additional North Koreans worked as IT workers for Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programs while residing “illegally in Vladivostok” and earning foreign currency to support its nuclear and missile programs.
