US Announces Heavy Sanctions on ICC Immediately After Nobel Peace Prize Announcement

[Anchor]

The U.S. government has announced sanctions against the International Criminal Court, pressing its allies to join the move. As the measure came right after the announcement of the Nobel Peace Prize for a legal expert who previously served as an ICC judge, it has sparked various interpretations, while the EU immediately expressed concern.

Reporting from Washington, this is Jeon Byeong-nam.

[Reporter]

The Donald Trump administration has announced high-intensity sanctions against the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The ICC was established to punish war crimes, genocide, and other crimes against humanity, with 125 member countries, including South Korea and the European Union.

In contrast, the U.S. has refused to join, arguing that the ICC attempts to prosecute U.S. service members for war crimes.

[Marco Rubio / U.S. Secretary of State: President Trump will never tolerate the International Criminal Court prosecuting Americans. We will ban transactions with this rogue tribunal and cut off its resources to neutralize its ability to operate against us.]

It also pressured allies to join.

[Marco Rubio / U.S. Secretary of State: We expect many allies who are members of the ICC and rely on the U.S. military for their defense to sanction this rogue tribunal. If they fail to do so, the U.S. will continue taking steps to dismantle the ICC piece by piece until Americans are no longer threatened.]

Under the new U.S. sanctions, all ICC assets within U.S. jurisdiction will be frozen, and U.S. companies and individuals must cut off dealings with the ICC within six months.

Notably, the sanctions were announced following the announcement of the Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Navi Pillay, a former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights who also served as an ICC judge.

Because of this timing, interpretations have emerged suggesting that the measure may reflect the intentions of President Trump, who had previously expressed a desire to win the Nobel Peace Prize.

Earlier on the 9th, local time, the Norwegian Nobel Committee selected Pillay as the Nobel Peace Prize laureate for contributions to promoting peace and the development of international law.

Immediately after the announcement, President Trump expressed his displeasure by resharing a post on his social media criticizing the Nobel Committee's decision.

However, the Associated Press reported that the sanctions measures had been prepared well before the Nobel Peace Prize announcement.

The European Commission issued a statement expressing concern over the Trump administration's sanctions.

Some EU countries have called for the activation of "blocking statutes" to neutralize U.S. sanctions, raising the possibility of another conflict between the U.S. and the EU.

(Video coverage: Oh Jung-shik, Video editing: Jung Yong-hwa, Design: Park Chun-woong)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.