US Targets Businessmen and Companies in New North Korea Sanctions

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration announced on Friday that it was imposing sanctions on several businessmen and companies in Asia that officials said help support the development of North Korea’s weapons and its military.

The action by the U.S. government comes during heightened tensions with North Korea, which has conducted missile tests 24 times this year, some with multiple projectiles.

On Monday, Pyongyang fired an intermediate-range ballistic missile over Japan; that missile flew 2,800 miles, the longest distance ever traveled by a North Korean weapon. The United States and South Korea fired missiles in a drill on Wednesday, and the Pentagon moved an aircraft carrier to an area east of North Korea.

“The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) continues its unprecedented pace, scale and scope of ballistic missile launches this year,” Antony J. Blinken, the U.S. secretary of state, said in a statement, using the formal name of North Korea. “This year alone, it has launched 41 ballistic missiles. Six of these were intercontinental ballistic missiles.”

A State Department spokesman said at a briefing on May 4 that North Korea had launched at least three intercontinental ballistic missiles this year, and Pyongyang launched another missile suspected of being that type on May 25.

Officials in the United States, South Korea and Japan are bracing for a possible nuclear test by Kim Jong-un, the leader of North Korea. If North Korea carries that out, it would instantly become a crisis in Washington and capitals across Asia and add to intensifying global fears as Vladimir V. Putin, president of Russia, threatens to unleash nuclear arms in his war on Ukraine.

“We have not faced the prospect of Armageddon since Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis,” President Biden said about Mr. Putin’s threats on Thursday at a Democratic fund-raiser in New York.

Some analysts say it is unlikely Mr. Kim would conduct a nuclear test during the 20th congress of the Communist Party of China, which is scheduled to start in Beijing on Oct. 16. That conclave is critical for Xi Jinping, the Chinese leader, who is expected to extend his tenure for another five years. North Korea depends on China for economic and diplomatic support, though Mr. Kim also adheres to an ideology of self-sufficiency.

Biden administration officials have said publicly they are open to negotiations with North Korea but have not received any diplomatic outreach from Pyongyang. President Donald J. Trump tried to negotiate face to face with Mr. Kim, in Singapore and Hanoi, to get him to end his nuclear weapons program, but those efforts failed.

Mr. Trump and President Barack Obama imposed harsh sanctions on North Korea, and Mr. Biden has kept the measures in place. Some North Korea experts say the penalties have failed to change Pyongyang’s behavior and led to greater suffering among ordinary North Koreans.

U.S. officials have said in recent years that a range of individuals and groups have tried to help North Korea evade sanctions, including through ship-to-ship transfers of energy products.

The penalties announced Friday were aimed at punishing such evasion. The Treasury Department said Kwek Kee Seng of Singapore, Chen Shih Huan of Taiwan and New Eastern Shipping Co., registered in the Marshall Islands, were involved in the ownership or management of the Courageous, a vessel that delivered refined petroleum to North Korea several times. The ship was known as the Sea Prima during much of the illegal activity.

The crew did ship-to-ship transfers of products with North Korean vessels and once made a delivery to Nampo, North Korea, the Treasury Department said.

The agency also imposed sanctions on Anfasar Trading and Swanseas Port Services, two Singapore-registered companies that it said had acted on behalf of Mr. Kwek.

In April 2021, the Justice Department charged Mr. Kwek with conspiring to evade economic sanctions on North Korea and conspiring to launder money.