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North Korean leader Kim Jong-il (center) poses for a photograph with the soldiers of Korean People's Army 821 unit, at an undisclosed area in North Korea, in this early April 2006 photo./AP
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The UN Security Council resolution passed on Saturday is likely to prevent senior North Korean officials including leader Kim Jong-il from traveling abroad and affect the status of members of Kim¡¯s family who live abroad.
¡ß Travel Ban
Legal experts say if a UNSC committee that will monitor the resolution¡¯s implementation decides that Kim Jong-il himself has anything to do with WMD, he cannot travel overseas. In this case, he would be prevented even from his sporadic China visits.
The resolution says, ¡°All member states shall take the necessary steps to prevent the entry into or transit through their territories of the persons designated by the committee or by the Security Council as being responsible for, including through supporting or promoting, [North Korea¡¯s] policies in relation to [its] nuclear-related, ballistic missile-related and other weapons of mass destruction-related programs, together with their family members.¡±
¡°It is an established fact that the ultimate responsibility for North Korea¡¯s development of WMD lies with Kim Jong-il,¡± says Kim Chang-kyu, a professor emeritus in international law at Kyung Hee University. ¡°Kim can be subject to the ban as a direct concerned party.¡± Prof. Paik Jinn-hyun of the Graduate Institute of International and Area Studies at Seoul National University and Prof. Oh Byung-sun of Sogang University¡¯s Law Department agreed that this part of the resolution takes into consideration banning Kim and his family from traveling abroad. A government official in Seoul merely said. ¡°Everything is up to the UNSC committee,¡± and many in the government are said to have been stunned when they saw this section.
Experts predict that the UNSC will not immediately ban Kim from travel considering the repercussions that would have. ¡°The UNSC will keep the possibility open for North Korea to engage in dialogue,¡± Prof. Jhe Sung-ho of Chung Ang University¡¯s Law Department said. ¡°I think it will gradually strengthen the sanctions depending on how the North responds.¡± But experts say exceptions will be made for a variety of negotiations the North takes part in, including now stalled six-party talks on its nuclear program.
Prof. Lee Yong-ho of Yeungnam University said if Kim is put on the list of ¡°persons related to WMD activities,¡± relatives who are staying in many parts of Europe will be affected. Some even say European countries could deport them. All three of Kim¡¯s sons graduated from international schools in Switzerland and are frequently travelling to European countries, and dozens of his relatives including his step-brothers Kim Pyong-il, Kim Yong-il and Kim Kyong-jin are reportedly living abroad.
¡ß Freezing Overseas Assets
The resolution calls for freezing overseas assets of those directly and indirectly involved in North Korea¡¯s development of WMD. That could make Kim¡¯s own reportedly substantial overseas assets subject to the ban, experts say. UN member countries where Pyongyang has accounts are obliged to freeze them under the resolution. The UNSC took the same measure against former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, Al-Qaeda's Osama Bin Laden and rebel leaders in the People¢¥s Republic of Congo, the Ivory Coast and Sudan.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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