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France freezes assets of N. Korean diplomat posted in Paris, citing UN sanctions
The French government has frozen the assets of a North Korean diplomat based in Paris and also imposed economic sanctions against his two suspected family members, citing United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions, documents showed Monday.
France’s Ministry of Economy and Finance froze all the assets owned or controlled by Kim Chol-yong, a North Korean counselor based in Paris, and prohibited both direct and indirect funding or economic support for entities and individuals under his control following an order by the minister on April 30.
Along with Kim, two North Korean individuals suspected to be his family members were also placed on the economic sanctions list.
The sanctions, announced in the French government gazette in early May, will remain in effect for six months until early November.
The French government cited UNSC Resolutions 1540 and 2270, adopted in 2004 and 2016 respectively, as the basis for imposing the sanctions.
The French ministry did not provide specific reasons for the sanctions against the North Koreans, but one suspected cause could be the smuggling of prohibited materials to North Korea using the diplomat’s status, such as foreign currency or luxury goods, which North Korean diplomats have often been accused of.
North Korea does not have a diplomatic mission in France, with which it has no official diplomatic relations. Instead, it maintains a permanent delegation to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) headquarters in Paris.
France announced that a complaint can be filed against the sanctions within two months of their notification through an administrative procedure.