Bahrain first to file report to UN on North Korea sanctions

Bahrain has become the first country to submit an implementation report to the United Nations regarding the latest sanctions against North Korea, according to a report. 

Arabian Business, quoting the implementation report posted on the website of the UN Security Council Sanctions Committee on North Korea, said the move is in response to UN Resolution 2375 on September 11 that imposed restrictions on North Korea.  

The resolution came just days after North Korea announced that it had successfully conducted a nuclear test, which it claimed was a hydrogen bomb that could be loaded onto an intercontinental ballistic missile.

“All airlines and land, sea and air crossing in Bahrain have been instructed to implement all of the relevant provisions of the resolutions, including the travel ban and the requirement to seek out, detect and confiscate prohibited items,” the report quoted Bahrain as saying. 

The report also instructs Bahrain’s Chamber of Industry and Commerce, National Oil and Gas Authority and the Ministry of Industry, Trade, and Tourism to implement the resolutions, along with all banks and licensed financial institutions in Bahrain.

“The National Committee is periodically monitoring the situation in order to ensure that the provisions of the resolutions are implemented comprehensively and continuously,” Arabian Business, quoting Bahrain said. 

As per the UN resolution, countries have a mid-December deadline to report on their implementation.

Meanwhile, the US  Department of Treasury on Thursday issued new sanctions on seven individuals and three entities of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) over what it called human rights abuses.  

“Today’s sanctions target the North Korean (DPRK) military and regime officials engaged in flagrant abuses of human rights,” said U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin in a statement. 

Pyongyang’s financial facilitators “who attempt to keep the regime afloat with foreign currency earned through forced labour operations” were also targeted, Mnuchin added. 

As a result of the action, any property or interests of the designated persons in the United States will be blocked and transactions by Americans involving these persons are generally prohibited.