South Korea has imposed sanctions on North Korean officials following Pyongyang’s latest intercontinental ballistic missile launch amid concerns about the North receiving weapons technology from Russia.
South Korea’s foreign ministry on Friday said the government has imposed sanctions on 11 North Korean individuals and four entities in retaliation against Pyongyang’s first missile launch in almost a year.
Pyongyang confirmed the launch monitored by leader Kim Jong-un on Thursday after its neighbours detected the firing of a suspected new, more agile weapon capable of targeting mainland US.
The launch was seen as a bid to grab American attention ahead of next week’s presidential election amid mounting Western criticism against the North allegedly sending thousands of soldiers to Russia to fight Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine.
The North’s state news agency KCNA lauded the launch as “the world’s strongest strategic missile”.
A spokesperson for South Korea’s unification ministry said the launch could have been for several purposes, including demonstrating military technology, pressuring Washington, and diverting attention from the North’s deployment of troops to Moscow.
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