US slaps new sanctions on North Korean financial and business networks in China and Russia

THE US has placed sanctions on ships that have facilitated Pyongyang’s weapons programs as well as “illicit actors” in Russia and China for working with North Korean financial networks.

Surveillance aircraft spots a Dominican-flagged Yuk Tung oil tanker after it transferred fuel to the North Korean-registered Rye Song tanker in the open South China Sea. Picture: AP

THE Trump administration has slapped sanctions on North Korean financial and business networks in China and Russia as it pushed to cut off revenues for the increasingly isolated nation’s nuclear and missile programs.

The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control also targeted five North Korean shipping companies and six of its vessels. That’s part of an intensified effort by Washington to prohibit ships that help the North evade sanctions.

The Lighthouse Winmore, a Hong Kong-flagged ship, is seen in waters off Yeosu, South Korea. Picture: AP

The sanctions have been tightened significantly in the past year as Kim Jong-un’s government accelerates toward perfecting a nuclear weapon that can threaten the US mainland.

While Beijing and Moscow have supported UN restrictions, they bristle at Washington imposing unilateral sanctions to bolster the pressure campaign.

The intensification of the US-led campaign is a counterpoint to a thaw in relations between North and South Korea revolving around the North’s participation in next month’s Winter Olympics being hosted by the South.

That has eased tensions on the divided peninsula, but the North shows no sign it’s willing to negotiate over its nuclear program.

“The US government is targeting illicit actors in China, Russia, and elsewhere who are working on behalf of North Korean financial networks, and calling for their expulsion from the territories where they reside,” Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said in a statement. Americans are barred from dealing with those who are designated.

A man watches a television screen showing US President Donald Trump, left, and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea. Picture: AP

Among those black-listed were 10 representatives in China and Russia of the Korea Ryonbong General Corporation, which is already designated by the United States and the United Nations and is said to support the North’s defence industry.

The Treasury Department said the company’s procurements also probably support North Korea’s chemical weapons program.

Half of the individuals are located in the Chinese cities of Dandong, Ji’an, Linjiang and Tumen near the China-North Korea border.

Others are based in Russia and Abkhazia, a breakaway province of Georgia.

They include, Kim Ho Kyu, said to be a Ryonbong representative and North Korean vice consul in Nakhodka, Russia.

US President Donald Trump, right, chats with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Picture: AP

The Treasury Department also designated five individuals it said were linked to North Korean financial networks, and pointedly highlighted that several of them held accounts at Chinese banks.

North Korea conducts most of its trade through its northern neighbour China, and is believed to rely on banks and companies in that country to connect with the international financial system.

The department added to its blacklist two China-based companies, Beijing Chengxing Trading Co. Ltd. and Dandong Jinxiang Trade Co., Ltd.

It said that between 2013 and 2017, the two companies cumulatively exported over $US68 million worth of goods to North Korea and imported more than $US19 million of goods from North Korea.

CIA Director Mike Pompeo. Picture: AP

Also designated were North Korea’s ministry responsible for crude oil and Hana Electronics JVC, one of North Korea’s only electronics companies.

The sanctions imposed on North Korean shipping are the latest in a slew of restrictions the US has declared against North Korean shipping companies.

The administration is pressing China, Russia and other countries to prevent vessels from conducting illicit ship-to-ship transfers of oil and other cargo.

CIA Director Mike Pompeo said on Tuesday that through the agency’s efforts, the US government has improved its ability to stop shipments into North Korea.

He warned that the North was moving “ever closer” to putting Americans at risk and that he believes Kim won’t rest until he’s able to threaten multiple nuclear attacks against the US at the same time.

US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin. Picture: AFP

Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin says the US is systematically targeting individuals and entities that finance Kim Jong-un’s government and its weapons programs, and help it evade sanctions.

Among those targeted on Wednesday were 10 representatives in China and Russia of the Korea Ryonbong General Corporation, which supports the North’s defence industry and already is under US and UN sanctions.

Americans are barred from dealing with them. Washington also wants them expelled from countries where they reside.