The South Korean government has decided to prevent the entry of any North Koreans suspected of having links to their communist state's nuclear and other weapons programs into the country, Seoul's point man on North Korean affairs said Thursday.
"Currently, (the government) controls entries by all North Korean personnel to South Korea and their stay here under Clause 9 of the law on South-North exchange and cooperation," Unification Minister Lee Jong-seok told the National Assembly committee on unification, foreign affairs and trade.
"When the (United Nations) sanctions committee names (North Korean) persons to be subject to (travel) restrictions, the government would be able to control (or prevent) their entry under the same law," the minister said during a parliamentary inspection of his ministry.
The measure is the first visible step South Korea has taken to punish North Korea for its nuclear weapon test on Oct. 9.
But it also follows a warning by the communist North Wednesday that it would take "corresponding countermeasures" against the South if Seoul decides to take any punitive measures against the North in line with the U.N. sanctions resolution.
"If the South Korean authorities, bereft of reason, dare join in the U.S. moves to put sanctions upon the DPRK and stifle it, we will take appropriate steps, regarding it as a total negation of the June 15 joint declaration and a declaration of confrontation with fellow countrymen," a spokesman for the North's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland said in a statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency.
DPRK stands for the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. The June 15 declaration refers to a joint statement issued at the end of the first-ever inter-Korean summit in 2000 in Pyongyang.
A spokesman for the Unification Ministry Thursday dismissed the threat as unreasonable and said the government will "continue to faithfully fulfill its roles" as a member of the international community.
On Oct. 14, the U.N. Security Council unanimously approved a resolution prohibiting the transfer of material, equipment, financial resources or personnel for North Korea's nuclear or other weapons of mass destruction (WMD) programs to or from the North.
The unification minister said his government has also taken steps to reinforce its inspection of goods and materials shipped to the North, as the Security Council resolution also calls on all U.N. member states to prevent the supply, sale or transfer of luxury goods to North Korea, an apparent attempt to curb what some have described as "disgusting spending" by the North's reclusive leader Kim Jong-il.
Millions of North Koreans are said to have starved to death in the mid-1990s when the North underwent famines following a series of nationwide droughts and floods. But the disasters did not stop Kim from his usual consumption of expensive French wine and other imported delicacies, according to testimonies by his former aides, including a Japanese chef, Kenji Fujimoto, who fled the communist state in 2001.
Lee said no luxury goods were being allowed into the North from his country, and that missile and other weapons-related items have long been subject to strict monitoring under regulations on the export of strategic goods.
"There are no North Korean assets in the South that are related to WMD programs," he told the parliamentary inspection session.
"Once the (U.N.) sanctions committee designates persons or organizations (with links to North Korea's WMD programs), the government will control the country's trade, investment, financial payments and fund remittances" to the designated entities, Lee said.
Pyongyang agreed to give up its nuclear ambition during a fourth round of the six-nation nuclear negotiations in September last year in return for diplomatic and economic benefits. But the communist state has been refusing to return to the talks since November, citing what it calls U.S. hostility toward it.
The talks also involve South Korea, Japan, China, Russia and the United States.
Seoul, Oct. 26 (Yonhap News)
Seoul to block entry of N. Koreans linked to weapons programs |
