EU blacklists 16 individuals, 12 entities according to new U.N. sanctions on N. Korea

BRUSSELS, March 4 (Yonhap) -- The European Union on Friday blacklisted 16 individuals and 12 companies as it carried out a U.N. Security Council resolution expanding sanctions on North Korea for its defiant nuclear and missile tests.

"The decision transposes the new listings imposed by United Nations Security Council Resolution 2270 adopted on 2 March 2016 in response to North Korea's nuclear test and rocket launch on 6 January 2016 and 7 February 2016, respectively," the Council of the European Union said in a statement. "The legal acts will be published in the Official Journal on 5 March 2016."

EU restrictive measures against the North, first introduced in 2006, implement all UNSC resolutions adopted after the North's nuclear tests and launches using ballistic missile technology and also include additional EU autonomous measures, the council said.

They target North Korea's nuclear, WMD and ballistic missile programs, and include prohibitions on the export and import of arms, goods and technology that could contribute to those programs, the council said.

On Wednesday, the Security Council unanimously adopted the sanctions resolution on the North.

The new sanctions, the toughest ever to be imposed on Pyongyang, require mandatory inspection of all cargo going in and out of the North, regardless of whether by land, sea or air, while banning its exports of coal, iron and other mineral resources, a key source of hard currency that accounts for nearly half of the country's total exports.

The resolution also blacklisted 16 North Korean individuals and 12 entities, including the General Reconnaissance Bureau, in charge of espionage operations, and requires the expulsion of North Korean diplomats engaged in activities banned under Security Council resolutions.

It was the fifth Security Council resolution imposing sanctions on the North.
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