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Choe Ryong Hae, left, and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrived for an event in Pyongyang last year. The U.S. on Monday put sanctions on Mr. Choe, a top North Korean official, and two others. Photo: Wong Maye-E/Associated Press

The U.S. Treasury Department put sanctions on three senior North Korean officials who it said lead government departments involved in government-sponsored censorship.

The Treasury put sanctions on Choe Ryong Hae, who is seen as the No. 2 official with control over the North Korean Workers Party, the government and the military; Jong Kyong Thaek, the minister of state security in North Korea; and Pak Kwang Ho, director of the ruling partys Propaganda and Agitation Department.

These sanctions demonstrate the United States ongoing support for freedom of expression, and opposition to endemic censorship and human rights abuses, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said.

North Koreas mission to the United Nations couldnt be reached for comment.

The sanction designations come alongside a U.S. State Department report on human-rights abuses and censorship in North Korea.

That report highlighted the role of groups comprised of North Korean government officials responsible for implementing censorship and restricting foreign media access. The groups conduct warrantless searches, inspection or confiscation of computer content, and the kidnapping of foreign citizens supporting human rights in the country, the State Department said.

It also cited a software-based censorship system that makes it impossible to view foreign media on all domestic mobile phones.

Write to Samuel Rubenfeld at samuel.rubenfeld@wsj.com

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U.S. Targets North Korean Censorship With Sanctions - WSJ