NK Elites Face Travel Restrictions in EU

UPDATE: Here is a PDF copy of EU Council Regulation 1283/2009.  (This list of the thirteen [13] DPRK officials on the “no entry” list is at the bottom of this post.)

JoongAng Daily reports that the EU is planning to revise its sanctions against the DPRK: “According to government sources in Seoul, the EU approved revisions to the regulation on sanctions against North Korea during its Environmental Council meeting on Dec. 22 of last year. In the EU, a regulation becomes immediately effective and enforceable as law in all member states simultaneously. Unlike a directive, a regulation doesn’t have to be transposed into laws of respective nations.”  DailyNK also has a report on the EU’s revisions with some interesting commentary.  The juiciest part of this paper shuffle are what North Korean elites are subject to a travel ban: are NDC Vice Chair VMAR Kim Yong-chun, KWP Secretary for Munitions Industry Jon Pyong-ho, Third Floor chief executive Kim Tong-un and KWP Administration Department Director Jang Song-thaek.

On the other side of the sanction business, Interfax reports that the Belarusian Foreign Ministry is cooperating with the Kazakh Foreign Ministry in seeking the release on bail of the flight crew arrested with DPRK-manufactured arms in Bangkok in December 2009.  The Thailand investigation also seems to have cost the DPRK military industry’s external affairs branch a significant front company.

North Korean elites banned from entry into the EU:

(n.b., I have some of these fellas working different gigs than the EU’s list)

VMAR Kim Yong-chun, Vice Chairman of the National Defense Commission and Minister of the People’s Armed Forces

Gen. O Kuk-ryol, Vice Chairman of the National Defense Commission and Director KWP Operations Department/Bureau #1 NDC

Dr. So Sang-kuk, Department Chair, Nuclear Physics, Kim Il-sung University

Dr. Ryom Yong, Director, General Bureau of Atomic Energy

Mr. Chon Chi-bu, Member, General Bureau of Atomic Energy

Mr. Pyon Yong-rip, Secretary-General SPA Presidium, former President National Academy of Sciences

Mr. Paek Se-bong, Chairman, Second Economic Committee and Member, National Defense Commission

Mr. Ju Kyu-chang, Senior Deputy Director, KWP Munitions Industry Department, Vice Chairman, Second Economic Committee and Member, NDC

Mr. Jon Pyong-ho, KWP Secretary of Munitions Industry and Member, NDC

Gen. Pak Jae-gyong, Vice Minister for External Affairs, MPAF

Gen. Hyon Chol-hae, Director, NDC Standing Bureau

Mr. Jang Song-thaek, Director, KWP Administration Department and Member, NDC

Mr. Kim Tong-un, Department Director, Office #39 (Chief Executive, Third Floor)

Pak Se-bong, Chairman, Second Economic Committee