. 24/7 Space News .
NUKEWARS
US sanctions N. Korea over arms trade
by Staff Writers
Washington (AFP) Dec 8, 2015


The United States imposed financial sanctions Tuesday against six individuals and several companies linked to arms proliferation by North Korea.

The sanctions targeted North Korea's Strategic Rocket Force, two banks and three shipping companies allegedly involved in the arms trade, according to the US Treasury.

Among the targets was the Tanchon Commercial Bank, the financial arm of the Korea Mining and Development Trading Corporation, which is responsible for North Korea arms exports.

Five of the bank's representatives -- two of whom were based in Syria and two others in Vietnam -- also were hit with sanctions.

Also blacklisted was the North Korean representative in Russia of the Foreign Trade Bank, North Korea's primary foreign exchange bank.

The sanctions bar American citizens or companies from engaging in transactions with the designated individuals and companies, and freezes any US-based assets they may have.

"North Korea threatens international peace and security by expanding its nuclear program and continuing its proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and conventional weapons," said Adam Szubin, acting under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence.

"Treasury is committed to exposing North Korea's global proliferation network and excluding these facilitators from the international financial system."

In sanctioning North Korea's Strategic Rocket Force, the Treasury noted it had carried out multiple ballistic missile tests in 2014.

The three blacklisted shipping companies were accused of transporting weapons.

S. Korean navy fires warning shots at Chinese patrol boat
Seoul (AFP) Dec 8, 2015 - The South Korean navy fired warning shots Tuesday at a Chinese patrol boat that crossed the disputed maritime border between South and North Korea, military officials in Seoul said.

A statement from the Joint Chiefs of Staff said the action was taken after the initially unidentified vessel encroached on South Korean territorial waters.

"It retreated as the warning shots were being fired," the statement said.

The Defence Ministry said the vessel was initially assumed to be North Korean. Naval patrol boats from the North regularly test the boundaries of the Yellow Sea border which has been a military flashpoint between the two Koreas for decades.

"But it actually turned out to be a Chinese patrol boat cracking down on illegal Chinese fishing vessels," a ministry official told AFP.

Seoul has been asking Beijing to take a tougher stand on Chinese vessels that have been entering South Korean waters in increasing numbers to sate growing demand at home for fresh seafood.

Small, wooden Chinese ships were once tolerated in an area where the top priority has always been guarding against potential incursions from North Korea.

But in recent years, the small boats have given way to larger steel trawlers who engage in bottom trawling - dragging a large, weighted net across the sea floor that sweeps up everything in its path.

Around 2,200 Chinese vessels have been stopped and fined by South Korea for illegal fishing in the past four years, and the number of arrested fishermen jumped from two in 2010 to 66 in 2013.

There have been numerous cases of violent clashes between Chinese crews and South Korean coastguard trying to board their boats.

Pyongyang does not recognise the Yellow Sea border that was unilaterally drawn by US-led UN forces at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.

The boundary was the scene of deadly naval clashes between the two Koreas in 1999, 2002 and 2009.


Thanks for being here;
We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain.

With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords.

Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year.

If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor
$5 Billed Once


credit card or paypal
SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter
$5 Billed Monthly


paypal only


.


Related Links
Learn about nuclear weapons doctrine and defense at SpaceWar.com
Learn about missile defense at SpaceWar.com
All about missiles at SpaceWar.com
Learn about the Superpowers of the 21st Century at SpaceWar.com






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle

Previous Report
NUKEWARS
Photos show new N. Korea nuclear test tunnel: US think tank
Seoul (AFP) Dec 3, 2015
Recent satellite imagery suggests North Korea is excavating a new tunnel at its main nuclear test site, although there are no indications that a test in imminent, a US think tank said Thursday. The tunnel is in a new area of the Punggye-ri site, separate from three other tunnels that the North has excavated or used for actual tests in the post, the US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins Univers ... read more


NUKEWARS
Gaia's sensors scan a lunar transit

SwRI scientists explain why moon rocks contain fewer volatiles than Earth's

All-female Russian crew starts Moon mission test

Russian moon mission would need 4 Angara-A5V launches

NUKEWARS
Letter to Mars? Royal Mail works it out for British boy, 5

European payload selected for ExoMars 2018 surface platform

ExoMars has historical, practical significance for Russia, Europe

ExoMars prepares to leave Europe for launch site

NUKEWARS
Australia seeks 'ideas boom' with tax breaks, visa boosts

Orion's power system to be put to the test

The Ins and Outs of NASA's First Launch of SLS and Orion

Aerojet Rocketdyne tapped for spacecraft's crew module propulsion

NUKEWARS
China's indigenous SatNav performing well after tests

China launches Yaogan-29 remote sensing satellite

China's scientific satellites to enter uncharted territory

China to launch Dark Matter Satellite in mid-December

NUKEWARS
Getting Into the Flow on the ISS

Orbital to fly first space cargo mission since 2014 explosion

Russian-US Space Collaboration Intact Despite Chill in Bilateral Ties

ISS EarthKAM ready for student imaging request

NUKEWARS
Aerojet Rocketdyne completes AJ60 solid booster for Atlas V launcher

DXL-2: Studying X-ray emissions in space

Arianespace selected to launch Azerspace-2/Intelsat 38 satellites

"Cyg"-nificant Science Launching to Space Station

NUKEWARS
What kinds of stars form rocky planets

Half of Kepler's giant exoplanet candidates are false positives

Exiled exoplanet likely kicked out of star's neighborhood

Neptune-size exoplanet around a red dwarf star

NUKEWARS
Seeking a new generation of light-based sensing systems

NAVSEA awards Harris Corporation radar upgrade contract

Aerojet Rocketdyne completes build of 3-D printed parts for Orion spacecraft

Conductor turned insulator amid disorder









The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2024 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. All articles labeled "by Staff Writers" include reports supplied to Space Media Network by industry news wires, PR agencies, corporate press officers and the like. Such articles are individually curated and edited by Space Media Network staff on the basis of the report's information value to our industry and professional readership. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Statement Our advertisers use various cookies and the like to deliver the best ad banner available at one time. All network advertising suppliers have GDPR policies (Legitimate Interest) that conform with EU regulations for data collection. By using our websites you consent to cookie based advertising. If you do not agree with this then you must stop using the websites from May 25, 2018. Privacy Statement. Additional information can be found here at About Us.