US Sanctions Three N. Korean Officials for Suspected Rights Abuses

The United States is sanctioning three senior North Korean leaders, including the regime’s “Number Two” official, for state-sponsored censorship activities and alleged human rights violations and abuses, the Treasury Department announced Monday.

The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control will impose sanctions on Choe Ryong Hae, who is seen as the Number Two official for the Workers’ Party of Korea and is the director of the party’s Organization and Guidance Department, for implementing censorship policies through the department. Pak Kwang Ho, director of the Propaganda and Agitation Department, is also being sanctioned for suppressing freedom of speech and expression and for censorship.

In addition, North Korea’s Minister of State Security Jong Kyong Thaek will be sanctioned for censorship activities and alleged abuses.

“These sanctions demonstrate the United States’ ongoing support for freedom of expression, and opposition to endemic censorship and human rights abuses,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement. “The United States has consistently condemned the North Korean regime for its flagrant and egregious abuses of human rights and fundamental freedoms, and this Administration will continue to take action against human rights abusers around the globe.”