US sanctions China-based network over links to North Korea space and missile programmes

The targets include a half-dozen people and five firms in China, accused of supporting Pyongyang in defiance of United Nations actions

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A file image of a North Korean missile launch is displayed on a screen at Seoul Railway Station in South Korea on July 2. Photo: AP

Published: 12:39am, 25 Jul 2024Updated: 6:27am, 25 Jul 2024

The US announced a new wave of sanctions on Wednesday against Chinese entities for allegedly violating UN Security Council resolutions by supplying North Korea with inputs for ballistic missiles, the second such action in little more than a month.

The sanctions target a network of a half-dozen people and five firms in China, accusing them of supporting Pyongyang’s ballistic missile and space programmes.

“In flagrant violation of multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions, [North Korea] has continued to conduct launches using ballistic missile technology, including a recent failed effort to place a military satellite into orbit,” the US Treasury Department said in its statement.

“Moreover, the DPRK has supplied ballistic missiles to the Russian Federation, which continues to target civilian population centres and infrastructure in Ukraine, sustaining Russia’s brutal and unprovoked war,” it added.

US President Joe Biden’s administration has made alleged connections between China and Russia’s continued aggression against Ukraine a fixture in its engagements with Beijing and in multilateral forums, including the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation and the Group of 7.

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Last month, Treasury targeted more than 300 individuals and entities in Russia, Hong Kong, mainland China, as well as in Turkey and the United Arab Emirates “whose products and services enable Russia to sustain its war effort and evade sanctions”.