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UPDATED 12:00 PM PT — Monday, Dec. 10, 2018North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un. (Korean Central News Agency/AP)
The Treasury Department has issued sanctions on three senior North Korean government officials in an effort to crackdown on the regime’s ongoing human rights abuses and censorship.
According to a press release, the officials, including a close aid to leader Kim Jong Un, were engaged in activities related to or directly involved in human rights abuse.
The sanctions freeze any property under U.S. jurisdiction of the individuals in question. The ban also prohibits others from making any transactions with those designated persons.
The move comes about a year after American college student Otto Warmbier was allegedly tortured and killed by North Korean government officials.