U.S. slaps sanctions on seven North Koreans, two DPRK entities

FILE PHOTO - A North Korean flag flies on a mast at the Permanent Mission of North Korea in Geneva October 2, 2014. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse/File Photo

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury Department has added seven senior North Korean officials, including leader Kim Jong Un's sister, to its sanctions list because of human rights abuses and censorship by the communist nation.

The department said in a statement on Wednesday that its Office of Foreign Assets Control added six men and one woman, all officials of the government of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea or the ruling Workers' Party of Korea, along with the Ministry of Labor and the State Planning Commission, to the Specially Designated Nationals List.