The Trump administration has imposed its first sanctions on Pyongyang since the North Korea-U.S. summit in June.
4 subjects have been identified, including a Russian bank and a North Korean individual...once again pressuring the North to make visible actions towards denuclearization.
Kim Mok-yeon has more.
On Friday, the United States imposed sanctions on a Russian bank, a North Korean businessman based in Moscow, and two firms allegedly working as front companies for a North Korean bank.
The Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control said that it is sanctioning the Agrosoyuz Commercial Bank, for allegedly facilitating a transaction with Han Jang-su, a person blacklisted by Washington for involvement in North Korea's nuclear weapons program.
Han is the Moscow-based chief representative of the Foreign Trade Bank, which is the primary foreign exchange bank of North Korea.
The treasury also added Ri Jong-won , the deputy representative of the FTB to the blacklist, and stressed that the two representatives of the North Korean bank should be expelled from Russia under the UN resolutions.
It also slapped sanctions on two suspected front companies for the FTB -- Dandong Zhongsheng Industry & Trade, based in China, and Korea Ungum Corporation, based in Pyongyang.
The U.S. government also urged the UN Security Council to include these entities on its sanctions list.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said that the U.S. will continue to enforce UN and U.S. sanctions and shut down illicit revenue streams to Pyongyang until it achieves the final, fully verified denuclearization of North Korea.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who is in Singapore to attend the ASEAN regional forum also highlighted the significance of sanctioning the regime.
"We appreciate ASEAN's ongoing efforts to promote peace and stability in the region, support the rule of law in the South China Sea and to strictly enforce sanctions on North Korea."
Along with efforts to negotiate with the North, such as exchanging letters with Kim Jong-un, it seems like the Trump administration is at the same time trying to increase the pressure on the regime through stricter sanctions to achieve denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula.
Kim Mok-yeon, Arirang news.
