The United States, on Thursday, sanctioned a North Korean cyber espionage group and eight foreign-based agents of the reclusive regime in response to Pyongyang's spy satellite launch last week, the Department of Treasury said, Report informs via Yonhap.
The department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) added to its sanctions list KIMSUKY, a cyber incursion group, and the individuals who facilitated sanctions evasion to support the North's weapons of mass destruction programs, the department said. OFAC enforces economic sanctions.
The new designations were conducted in coordination with South Korea, Japan, and Australia in response to the North's November 21 launch of a space rocket to put a military reconnaissance satellite into orbit, according to the department.
The US and its allies have condemned the launch as a violation of multiple UN Security Council resolutions banning any launch using ballistic missile technology.