The European Union imposed new sanctions on two top North Korean defense officials in mid-December 2024 for their roles in deploying troops to aid Russia’s unprovoked war in Ukraine.
The EU targeted North Korean Defense Minister Ro Kwang Chol for his direct involvement in the military cooperation between the two regimes, including sending an estimated 11,000 troops to Russia. The North Korean military’s deputy chief of general staff, Kim Yong Bok, also was sanctioned for traveling to Russia to supervise the deployment.
The sanctions froze assets of 54 individuals and 30 companies and other entities. It marked the 15th set of EU penalties since Russian leader Vladimir Putin ordered the illegal invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The latest sanctions primarily target Russian defense and shipping companies transporting crude oil and oil products, providing revenue to the Russian government. But, for the first time, the EU also imposed full sanctions — including travel bans, asset freezes and other punitive actions — on People’s Republic of China (PRC) actors for supplying drone and electric components to support Russia’s war of aggression.
“This package of sanctions is part of our response to weaken Russia’s war machine and those who are enabling this war, also including Chinese companies,” EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said in a statement.
On the same day the EU acted, the United States sanctioned 19 entities and individuals, including Ro and Kim, for providing military aid to Russia and financial support for North Korea’s weapons of mass destruction (WMD), nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
“These actions reflect [North Korea’s] escalating provocation and hostile military posturing that exacerbate global tensions and destabilize regional peace and security,” the U.S. Treasury Department said in a statement.
In late October 2024, North Korea tested an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) and in early November it fired seven short-range ballistic missiles off the Korean Peninsula’s east coast.
North Korea also has sent 13,000 containers of artillery, missiles and other conventional arms to Russia since August 2023, South Korea’s National Intelligence Service said in October 2024.
Russia has rewarded North Korea with cash, anti-air missiles and air defense equipment, analysts and officials say. Moscow also has supplied North Korea with an estimated 1 million barrels of oil since March 2024, according to satellite imagery analysis from the Open Source Centre, a nonprofit research group based in the United Kingdom. The shipments violate United Nations Security Council resolutions adopted in 2017 that cap oil imports by Pyongyang.
The Security Council has adopted nine major resolutions sanctioning North Korea over its nuclear and missile activities since 2006. One of the first, known as 1718, called for North Korea to abandon its nuclear program in a “complete, verifiable and irreversible” manner, end its ballistic missile activities, and return to nuclear reduction talks.
The resolution prohibited U.N. members from selling or transferring to North Korea any heavy weaponry, such as tanks, ships or missile systems; spare parts for weapons; and materials and technology for WMD and ballistic missile programs. It froze the financial assets of entities the Security Council determined were supporting the regime’s nuclear, missile and WMD programs. The resolution also established a committee to monitor compliance.
Subsequent resolutions expanded the arms embargo, identified additional individuals and entities for asset freezes and travel bans, strengthened enforcement, and prohibited or limited North Korean exports of copper, nickel, iron, coal, other minerals, textiles and seafood.
North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un said in early 2012 that he would suspend nuclear tests in exchange for food aid, but he later defied the U.N. resolution with long-range missile launches in late 2012 and early 2013. The violations, including missile and satellite launches, have continued and the troop deployment to Russia is Kim’s latest disregard for international law.
“The Kim regime’s continued provocative actions — including its most recent ICBM test and its deepening military support to Russia — undermine the stability of the region and sustain Putin’s continued aggression in Ukraine,” Bradley T. Smith, the U.S. Treasury Department’s acting undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said in a statement.
