EU Business
3/27/2007
The European Union adopted sanctions against North Korea Tuesday, putting it in line with a UN Security Council resolution passed after the Stalinist state announced a nuclear test.
The sanctions include a ban on the sale or export of all materials that could be used in North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile programmes, or in the manufacture of weapons of mass destruction.
The EU also froze the assets abroad of some North Korean officials and banned exports to the country of luxury goods like caviar, truffles, high-quality wines and perfumes, and pure bred horses.
The bloc backed in November UN resolution 1718 but the application of sanctions required a formal EU decision, which was held up by a row between Britain and Spain over how Gibraltar would implement the measures.
The resolution was passed after Pyongyang announced on October 9 that it had carried out its first nuclear weapons test, triggering world-wide outrage.
