{"id":44807,"date":"2017-09-27T05:19:00","date_gmt":"2017-09-27T05:19:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/?p=44807"},"modified":"2017-09-27T05:22:11","modified_gmt":"2017-09-27T05:22:11","slug":"north-korean-banks-and-citizens-added-to-u-s-sanctions-list","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/news\/north-korean-banks-and-citizens-added-to-u-s-sanctions-list.html","title":{"rendered":"North Korean Banks and Citizens Added to U.S. Sanctions List"},"content":{"rendered":"

North Korean Banks and Citizens Added to U.S. Sanctions List<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

North Korean Banks and Citizens Added to U.S. Sanctions List:- The United States added eight North Korean banks and 26 individuals operating in four countries to its sanctions blacklist on Tuesday, part of an intensified effort to starve North Korea financially in response to the country\u2019s nuclear weapons and missile testing.<\/span><\/p>\n

The action by the Treasury Department came less than a week after President Trump announced an executive order that broadly expanded the punitive economic measures he can apply against North Korea\u2019s leader, Kim Jong-un, and his subordinates.<\/span><\/p>\n

A Treasury statement said the sanctions singled out North Koreans working in China, Russia, Libya and the United Arab Emirates. Nineteen of the 26 North Koreans under sanctions are in China, underscoring the dependence of North Korea on its Chinese economic connections.<\/span><\/p>\n

The penalties also reflected the reach of North Korea\u2019s financial network despite an onerous array of restrictions already imposed on the country by the United States and the United Nations over the testing, which the Security Council has declared illegal.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe are targeting North Korean banks and financial facilitators acting as representatives for North Korean banks across the globe,\u201d Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in announcing the sanctions.<\/span><\/p>\n

He said the sanctions were imposed to complement a Security Council resolution on Sept. 11 that represented the strongest penalties yet imposed by the world body on North Korea for its repeated nuclear and missile tests over the past decade.<\/span><\/p>\n

The eight banks, which the Treasury statement described as operators in North Korea\u2019s financial services industry, were identified as: Agricultural Development Bank; Cheil Credit Bank; Hana Banking Corporation Ltd.; International Industrial Development Bank; Jinmyong Joint Bank; Jinsong Joint Bank; Koryo Commercial Bank Ltd.; and Ryugyong Commercial Bank.<\/span><\/p>\n

Under American sanctions, any property under United States jurisdiction that is owned by designated entities or people can be seized. Those targeted by the sanctions also are banned from doing business with American citizens.<\/span><\/p>\n

Political analysts said Treasury sanctions would, at the least, cause new disruptions for Mr. Kim\u2019s overseas revenue streams, forcing North Korea to find other ways to move money.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a valuable step forward because it will further squeeze the North Korean regime, interdict its access to foreign exchange, and narrow Pyongyang\u2019s options as it seeks to do business around the world,\u201d said Evans J.R. Revere, a Korea expert who is a former deputy assistant secretary of state.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Treasury action came a day after North Korea\u2019s foreign minister, Ri Yong-ho, said his country regarded the Trump administration\u2019s recent statements and actions, most notably President Trump\u2019s threat to destroy North Korea, as a \u201cdeclaration of war.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Mr. Ri said that North Korea now had the right to shoot down American warplanes even if they were operating in international airspace. Trump administration officials called Mr. Ri\u2019s accusations absurd.<\/span><\/p>\n

Asked on Tuesday about the North Korean foreign minister\u2019s remarks, Mr. Trump said the United States did not prefer a military option in dealing with the crisis.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBut if we take that option, it will be devastating \u2014 I can tell you that \u2014 devastating for North Korea,\u201d Mr. Trump told a news conference in the White House Rose Garden after talks with Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy of Spain.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mr. Trump also reiterated his view that he had inherited the problem of an increasingly belligerent North Korea from previous White House administrations that had failed to stop its drive to be a nuclear-armed state.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNorth Korea is a situation that should have been handled 25 years ago, 20 years ago, 15 years ago, 10 years ago, and five years ago, and it could have been handled much more easily,\u201d he said. \u201cYou had various administrations \u2014 many administrations which left me a mess. But I\u2019ll fix the mess. So we\u2019ll see what happens with North Korea.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Earlier Tuesday, the parents of Otto F. Warmbier, the American student detained by North Korea who died shortly after he had been flown home comatose in June, said in their first interview since his death that he had been tortured, describing his captors as \u201cterrorists.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Speaking on the \u201cFox & Friends\u201d morning news program, the parents, Fred and Cindy Warmbier of Cincinnati, provided previously undisclosed details on the injuries to their son, 22, a University of Virginia undergraduate.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Warmbiers said they had decided to speak out now partly because they were aghast at efforts by the North Korean government to portray itself as the victim of United States aggression in the unfolding crisis over nuclear weapons and missile testing.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re here to tell you North Korea is not a victim,\u201d Fred Warmbier said. \u201cThey\u2019re terrorists. They kidnapped Otto, tortured him, they intentionally injured him.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

North Korean officials have said Mr. Warmbier was released on humanitarian grounds and had been treated respectfully. They attributed his state of near-death to sleeping pills and botulism poisoning, a conclusion that his American doctors could not corroborate.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mr. Warmbier was seized from a tour group while visiting North Korea in January 2016, convicted of trying to steal a propaganda poster and sentenced to 15 years of hard labor, a punishment that the United States and much of the world called egregious.<\/span><\/p>\n

Source:-\u00a0https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2017\/09\/26\/world\/asia\/north-korea-sanctions.html<\/span><\/p>\n

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