New US sanctions aimed at shipping
WASHINGTON: The United States on Tuesday unveiled new sanctions targeting North Korean shipping and Chinese traders doing business with Pyongyang, again raising the pressure on the pariah state to abandon its nuclear programme.
The measures came a day after President Donald Trump declared North Korea a state sponsor of terrorism, a spot on a US blacklist Pyongyang had shed nearly a decade ago.
“These designations include companies that have engaged in trade with North Korea cumulatively worth hundreds of millions of dollars,” US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said.
“We are also sanctioning the shipping and transportation companies, and their vessels, that facilitate North Korea’s trade and its deceptive manoeuvres.”
On Monday, Mr Trump had said the sanctions announcement would be the first in a series of moves over the next two weeks that would reinforce his “maximum pressure campaign” against Kim Jongun’s regime.
As had been expected, the Treasury measures make use of existing US directives against North Korean trade, but expand their scope to take in more companies and individuals.
Most importantly, they expand the list of Chinese firms accused of doing business with the North despite promises from Beijing that it will honour UN-backed punitive measures.
Mr Trump met China’s President Xi Jinping earlier this month and is bullish about the US-China relationship, but concerns remain that Beijing is not ready to take
tough measures against Mr Kim.
In particular, China has been reluctant to cut off oil supplies through a pipeline to North Korea’s lone refinery, fearing that regime collapse could lead to chaos on their common border.
And, according to US officials, some Chinese-based banks and trading firms continue to do business with the North in defiance of UN sanctions.
Experts believe Pyongyang is within months of such a threshold, having carried out six nuclear tests since 2006 and test-fired several types of missiles.
Both Mr Trump and Mr Kim have previously raised fears of open conflict as they exchanged threats of devastating military strikes.