United Nations allows sanctioned North Korean official to travel to 2018 Winter Olympics

The U.N. committee monitoring sanctions against North Korea has granted an exemption for a senior official from Pyongyang who is subject to a travel ban and asset freeze to attend the Winter Olympics in South Korea with his country’s high-level delegation.

Ambassador Karel Van Oosterom of the Netherlands, who chairs the Security Council committee, said Wednesday that members approved an exemption for Choe Hwi, who has been on the U.N. sanctions blacklist since June 2, 2017, to travel to the games in Pyeongchang.

South Korean Charge d’affaires Ham Sang Wook asked the committee earlier Wednesday to grant a sanctions exemption to the 23-member delegation without naming Choe.

He said its participation “will serve as a timely opportunity to reduce tensions on the Korean Peninsula and beyond.”

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