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| gettyimagesbank |
By Nam Hyun-woo
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| Ri Yong-gil, North Korea's minister of People's Armed Forces |
A fresh set of U.S. sanctions against North Korea is feared to dampen the momentum for South Korean President Moon Jae-in's proposal to declare an official end to the Korean War, as it comes as a virtual rejection of Pyongyang's demand for the U.S. to withdraw its "hostile policies" against it, which is a precondition that the bellicose regime set for end-of-war declaration talks.
The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced on Friday (local time) that it has designated 15 individuals and 10 entities "for their connection to human rights abuse and repression in several countries around the globe, pursuant to multiple sanctions authorities."
Among those designated are North Korea's Central Public Prosecutors Office, the Scientific and Educational Film Studio of Korea and Ri Yong-gil, minister of People's Armed Forces who was until recently minister of social security.
The OFAC accused the prosecutors' office and Ri of human rights violations in policing activities.
"The DPRK Central Public Prosecutors Office and court system reportedly are used to prosecute and punish persons for political wrongdoing in a legal process involving fundamentally unfair trials. These trials sometimes end in sentencing to the DPRK's notorious prison camps, run by the Ministry of State Security and the Ministry of Social Security," the OFAC said in a press release. The DPRK stands for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, North Korea's official name.
North Korea's Ministry of Social Security is a policing organization monitoring not only North Koreans but also foreign residents. The OFAC mentioned the death of U.S. college student Otto Warmbier as an example of the ministry's human rights abuses.
The sanctions were the first U.S. sanctions targeting North Korea since U.S. President Joe Biden took office. The Biden administration extended a travel ban in September and retained North Korea in the list of countries of particular concern regarding religious freedom last month, but those were not additional sanctions.
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| U.S. President Joe Biden speaks at the Chase Center in Wilmington, Del., Saturday (local time). AP-Yonhap |
The Biden administration had been reaching out to North Korea without imposing additional sanctions while calling for talks "without preconditions." As Pyongyang remains unresponsive, however, the U.S. appears to be elevating its North Korea stance a step hawkish with the new sanctions.
This is interpreted as negative news for the Moon administration, which is pursuing an end-of-war declaration between the two Koreas, the U.S. and China as its achievement in Moon's last months as President.
Since the 1950-53 war ended in an armistice, as opposed to a peace treaty, the two Koreas are technically still at war. As part of his initiative to facilitate a peace regime on the Korean Peninsula, Moon resurrected his proposal for a non-binding declaration on the official end of the war in September, in the belief that it will be a powerful enticement to bring the North back to stalled denuclearization talks.
After Moon floated the idea, North Korea has set up two preconditions ― withdrawal of hostile policies and double standards on the regime's weapons programs. The first was interpreted as North Korea's demand for lifting of sanctions.
As the U.S. turned down the first precondition with the new sanctions, North Korea is anticipated to show a hostile response.
Pyongyang has yet to release its official comments or statements regarding the sanctions, but its Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Friday condemned the European Union's Dec. 6 extension of human rights sanctions on the regime, saying the set of sanctions "which has nothing to do with protection and promotion of genuine human rights, is indeed a politically motivated smear campaign targeting the countries which the EU view as differing from their values."
"South Korean government's attempt to rekindle the inter-Korean peace mood through the end-of-war declaration is losing its momentum," said Hong Min, a senior researcher at the Korea Institute for National Unification.
"North Korea sets up its strategic keynotes for next year in the year-end and New Year season, and the additional sanctions at this time cannot be a positive sign," Hong said. "Since the North sees no changes in U.S. actions more than seven months after the Biden administration announced the completion of its North Korea policy review, the regime is expected to strengthen its assertive actions next year. Along with the recent U.S. diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics, the situation is turning against the Moon government."
After the U.S. announced its diplomatic boycott of the upcoming Beijing Winter Olympics last week, experts said chances are slim for reaching an end-of-war declaration during the sporting event, as the boycott means not just a loss of declaration venue, but an escalation to the conflict between the U.S. and China. Since China strongly wants to join the end-of-war declaration talks as part of its bid to counter the U.S., experts say Seoul has to pull off a very difficult job of bringing the conflicting superpowers to the negotiation table in order to make a four-way declaration.
The remaining opposition to the end-of-war declaration among U.S. lawmakers is also a factor dampening Moon's initiative. Thirty-five GOP House lawmakers led by Rep. Young Kim delivered a letter to White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan last week and claimed the declaration could undermine regional security if it is signed without North Korea's denuclearization.
