South Korea imposed financial sanctions Friday on a Syrian research center as well as six Taiwanese individuals and companies for their alleged involvement in arms trading with North Korea.

South Korea imposed financial sanctions Friday on a Syrian research center as well as six Taiwanese individuals and companies for their alleged involvement in arms trading with North Korea.

"Syria's Scientific Studies and Research Center and three Taiwanese companies - Global Interface Company Inc, Trans Merits Co and Trans Multi Mechanics Co - were blacklisted," Seoul's foreign ministry said in a statement.

"Three Taiwanese individuals, including Tsai Hsein-Tai, Su Lu-Chi and Chang Wen-Fu, were also put on the blacklist," it said, without elaborating on them or the nature of their alleged involvement.

The sanctions forbid South Korean individuals and companies from doing business with those blacklisted.

The South has previously imposed sanctions against companies based in the North, but this is the first time such measures have been taken against a group or individual outside the Korean peninsula.

Violators face a prison term of up to three years or a maximum of 300 million won (US$270,000) in fines.

Under UN sanctions, South Korea has blacklisted 12 individuals and 20 organizations in the North over the years, following a series of nuclear and missile tests staged in violation of international resolutions.