U.S. blacklists N. Korean leader over human rights abuses

WASHINGTON, July 6 (Yonhap) -- The United States blacklisted North Korean leader Kim Jong-un over human rights abuses on Wednesday in an unprecedented, highly symbolic measure underscoring Washington's determination to ramp up pressure on Pyongyang. Fourteen other top North Korean officials as well as eight powerful state agencies, including the National Defense Commission, which has recently been replaced with the newly created State Affairs Commission, were also added to the Treasury Department's specially designated nationals list for their roles in human rights violations. It is the first time the U.S. has imposed direct sanctions on the North's leader. The designation is the latest in a series of measures the U.S. is taking to increase pressure on the North. The U.S. has led the U.N. Security Council to adopt the toughest sanctions ever on Pyongyang while enacting its own unilateral sanctions on the communist nation in the wake of the North's fourth nuclear test in January and a long-range rocket launch the following month. Last month, the Treasury Department also designated the North as a "primary money laundering concern," a powerful sanction designed to cut off the provocative regime from the international banking system, for defiantly pursuing nuclear and missile development. jschang@yna.co.kr (END)