By Patrick Worsnip
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council announced sanctions Thursday against five North Korean organizations and five individuals for involvement in Pyongyang's nuclear and ballistic missile activities.
Transfer of two weapons-related items to North Korea also will be banned under the measure announced by Turkey's U.N. Ambassador Fazli Corman, chairman of the Security Council's North Korea sanctions committee.
The organizations sanctioned comprise North Korea's General Bureau of Atomic Energy (GBAE) and four trading companies. The individuals are GBAE director Ri Je-son, two other nuclear officials and two trading company directors.
The measure prohibits companies and nations from doing business with the named organizations and requires them to freeze assets and impose travel bans on the individuals. It lengthens a blacklist of companies and individuals involved in Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programs.
Arms sales are a vital source of foreign currency for destitute North Korea, which has a yearly GDP of about $17 billion (10.3 billion pounds) and a broken economy that produces few other items it can export.
Analysts have said the new U.N. measures will make it more costly for the North to trade arms but they will not likely deter customers, including Iran, who have shown little interest in joining international plans to punish Pyongyang.
(Editing by Bill Trott)
