Blacklisted N. Korean official arrives amid protests by conservative party

By Lim Chang-won Posted : February 25, 2018, 14:57 Updated : February 25, 2018, 14:57

[Joint Press Corps]


SEOUL, Feb. 25 (Aju News) -- A blacklisted senior military official from Pyongyang arrived in South Korea Sunday to attend the closing ceremony of the Winter Olympics after Washington unveiled new sanctions aimed at disrupting North Korean shipping and trading companies and vessels.

The trip of an eight-member North Korean delegation led by Kim Yong-chol, head of the United Front Department (UFD), came on the heels of an active campaign by South Korean President Moon Jae-in to break a stalemate in cross-border relations.

South Korean riot police formed a human barricade to stop hundreds of conservative opposition lawmakers and supporters who have occupied a bridge near the border for a protest opposing Kim's visit. The North Korean delegation had to take a roundabout route for its journey to Seoul.
 

[Yonhap News Photo]


The UFD head has been known for his hardline stance against South Korea. He had led the Reconnaissance General Bureau in 2009 and the North's reconnaissance bureau allegedly involved in the sinking of a South Korean warship and the shelling of a front-line island in 2010. He was among a number of North Korean officials blacklisted under U.S. and South Korean sanctions.

The North Korean delegation's visit followed the arrival of Ivanka Trump who had led a U.S. delegation to South Korea as an adviser to her father. Ivanka and other American officials were to attend the closing ceremony of the Olympics on Sunday.

U.S. officials have ruled out any talks with North Korean officials, but there has been speculation about possible unofficial contact between them. The North's delegation included Choe Kang-il, a deputy director-general for the foreign ministry's North American affairs. Ivanka was accompanied by U.S. National Security Council director for Korea Allison Hooker.

Moon has been engaged in a flurry of sports diplomacy since North Korean leader Kim Jong-un agreed to dispatch athletes, cheerleaders, an art troupe and a high-level delegation one after another in his hectic peace offensive that got a stringent nuclear crisis out of everybody's head for two weeks. 

However, President Donald Trump ratcheted pressure on North Korea by unveiling sanctions targeting 27 shipping and trade firms and 28 vessels and one individual suspected of helping North Korea evade existing sanctions. They are located or registered in countries including North Korea, China, Singapore, Tanzania and Panama.

At an Olympic ski venue on Saturday, White House press secretary Sarah Sander told reporters that Washington would continue to put pressure on North Korea to give up its nuclear program despite a growing mood of inter-Korean reconciliationy.

"We are going to continue a campaign of maximum pressure, the latest sanctions are the strongest that we have had on North Korea. We are going to continue in that form," Sanders said.
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