The Council today adopted additional restrictive measures against three individuals and four entities under its autonomous sanctions list on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). They are responsible for supporting, promoting or facilitating activities that contribute to the DPRK’s programmes related to nuclear weapons, ballistic missiles or other weapons of mass destruction, as well as for violating and evading United Nations sanctions.
The new listings target activities linked to the growing military and economic cooperation between the DPRK and Russia, including the deployment of DPRK workers in Russia, commercial and industrial cooperation and the ‘arms-for-oil’ trade, all in violation of prohibitions imposed by the United Nations Security Council that Russia approved as a permanent member of the Security Council.
Among those listed is Ri Song Jin, a researcher at the DPRK National Aerospace Technology Administration and an official at the DPRK Missile General Bureau who has been deployed to Russia as a technician supporting Russia’s use of DPRK missiles in the context of growing military cooperation between the DPRK and Russia. He is therefore responsible for supporting and promoting the DPRK’s nuclear-related and ballistic-missile-related programmes.
The Council has also listed Russian real estate development company Samolet Group and its CEO, Anna Nikolaevna Akinshina, for her responsibility for a company that has employed DPRK workers in construction projects in Vladivostok, in violation of UN sanctions. Vladimir Aleksandrovich Sokolov, founder and president of Russian holding company Black Horse, is also listed for promoting and facilitating commercial and industrial cooperation projects involving the DPRK, including a Russia–DPRK industrial investment project in Primorsky Krai.
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The remaining two entities added under this sanctions regime are Paekyangsan Shipping Co Ltd, which operates the DPRK-flagged vessel Paek Yang San 1 involved in shipments of refined petroleum products from Russia to the DPRK in violation of UN Security Council Resolution 2397, and Black Horse’s subsidiary Golden Autumn Agroholding.
Those targeted will be subject to an asset freeze and the provision of funds or economic resources, directly or indirectly, to or for the benefit of those listed is prohibited. Additionally, a travel ban to the European Union will apply to the listed individuals.
Today’s decision brings the total number of persons listed autonomously by the EU to 80 individuals and 25 entities. This comes in addition to all relevant UN Security Council resolutions on sanctions linked to DPRK’s illegal programmes, which the EU has also transposed into EU law.
The Council is gravely concerned by the DPRK’s continued nuclear-related and ballistic missile-related activities, carried out in violation of relevant UN Security Council resolutions, and by the further deepening of Russia–DPRK cooperation. This includes the deployment of DPRK troops, employment of DPRK workers in Russia, the establishment of commercial joint ventures and the ‘arms-for-oil’ trade, which pose a serious threat to international peace and security and violate UN sanctions.
The EU remains firmly committed to the full implementation of UN sanctions against the DPRK and calls on the DPRK to comply with its obligations under relevant UN Security Council resolutions and to abandon its nuclear weapons, other weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programmes in a complete, verifiable and irreversible manner.
The relevant legal acts have been published in the Official Journal of the EU.
Background
The EU’s restrictive measures against the DPRK implement the UN sanctions regime established in response to the DPRK’s nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes. The Council has adopted additional, autonomous restrictive measures against the DPRK, complementing the UN sanctions, on the grounds that the DPRK’s actions constitute a grave threat to international peace and security in the region and beyond.
The Council has urged the DPRK to engage in meaningful discussions with all relevant parties to build a basis for sustainable peace and security and to take steps aimed at pursuing the complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula.
UN Security Council Resolution 2375 (2017) prohibits, among other things, the establishment and operation of joint ventures or cooperative entities with DPRK entities or individuals. Resolution 2397 (2017) requires the repatriation of DPRK workers abroad, subject to applicable national and international law, and strengthens restrictions on the supply of crude oil and refined petroleum products to the DPRK.
The European Council, in its conclusions of 18 June 2026, strongly condemned the deployment of DPRK military forces in Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and the continued military support provided to Russia by the DPRK, Iran and Belarus.
Council of the European Union