The U.S. government has escalated economic sanctions against North Korea by personally sanctioning dictator Kim Jong Un. The State Department has accused Kim of being guilty of "intolerable cruelty."
This is the first time that Kim has been personally sanctioned for human rights abuses. The United Nations says his crimes include the internment of 80,000 to 120,000 people—including children and other family members of accused people—in political prison camps.
"Under Kim Jong Un, North Korea continues to inflict intolerable cruelty and hardship on millions of its own people, including extrajudicial killings, forced labor, and torture," acting under secretary for terrorism and financial Intelligence Adam Szubin reportedly said in a statement.
While not common, personal sanctions against other world leaders are rare. Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi also had personal sanctions imposed on him in the 1980s. Unfortunately for the people of North Korea, the sanctions are largely symbolic and will probably do nothing to stop Kim Jong Un from engaging in the type of barbaric behavior that has made him infamous.
"These efforts send a clear message—not just to the senior leaders, but also prison camp managers and guards, censors, secret police, interrogators, and persecutors of defectors—the world is documenting your abuses, and they will not be forgotten," U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power said in a statement.