SEOUL, April 27 (UPI) — Vietnam expelled a North Korean diplomat blacklisted under U.S. and United Nations Security Council sanctions.
Choe Sung Il, who was reportedly in charge of North Korean arms sales in Southeast Asia was deported April 23, Voice of America reported Wednesday, local time.
The expulsion of Pyongyang’s envoy comes at a time when more countries are actively implementing embargoes under Resolution 2270, the U.N. Security Council sanctions that were adopted unanimously in early March.
South Korean government officials told VOA that Choe, a deputy representative of Tanchon Commercial Bank, was sent back to Pyongyang by plane Saturday.
Choe was added to a blacklist of North Korean individuals maintained by the U.S. Treasury Department last December, South Korean news service News 1 reported.
Choe was subsequently added to the U.N. sanctions list in March, which allows U.N. member countries to expel him or bar him from entry.
According to the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, Choe has been responsible for the North’s nuclear weapons proliferation, and those charges have influenced the Security Council’s decision to add him to the sanctions list.
Choe previously worked at Tanchon’s branch in Myanmar, but was transferred to Vietnam in June 2013.
He was responsible for collecting revenue from North Korean weapons sales, and traveled to Pyongyang regularly with the proceeds, according to South Korea press.
