S.Korea announces standalone sanctions on DPRK over 5th nuke test

South Korea on Friday announced its standalone sanctions on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) over Pyongyang's fifth nuclear test in September.

Government ministries, including foreign, unification and finance ministries, announced the country's unilateral sanctions after UN Security Council adopted tougher-than-ever resolution against the DPRK on Wednesday.

South Korea blacklisted 36 individuals and 35 entities suspected of supporting the DPRK's nuclear and missile programs, increasing the total number to 79 individuals and 69 entities. They will be subject to financial sanctions.

The individuals included in the blacklist are Hwang Pyong So, director of the general political bureau of the Korean People's Army, and Choe Ryong Hae, vice chairman of the central committee of the ruling Workers' Part of Korea.

The entities newly subject to the standalone sanctions are the Workers Party of Korea, the party's Central Defense Commission, the State Affairs Commission and the country's national flag carrier Air Koryo.

The sanctions would have a symbolic meaning as transactions and exchange of personnel between the two countries have been actually severed for years.

New sanctions were imposed by South Korea and the UN Security Council to take punitive action on the DPRK over its fifth nuclear test on Sept. 9 that is seen as the most powerful ever.

The fifth test came just eight months after Pyongyang's fourth nuclear detonation in January and the launch in February of a long-range rocket. Endit