The Treasury Department also listed two Russian banks that are accused of collaborating with Pyongyang with significant financial services
The US imposed new sanctions against the North Korean regime after the missile tests in the Sea of Japan
The United States on Friday imposed new sanctions on North Korea that include two Russian banks for launching missiles, after Russia and China vetoed action against Pyongyang at the UN Security Council.< /p>
The Treasury Department said that it froze all assets in the United States and will criminalize the transactions of the Russian banks Eastern Bank and Bank Sputnikaccused of collaborating with North Korea and a freight company linked to North Korea’s state-owned airline Air Koyo.
Brian Nelson, a senior Treasury official, said the banks “provided knowingly significant financial services” to the People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), the official name for North Korea.
“The United States will continue to implement and enforce sanctions while requiring the DPRK to return to the diplomatic path and abandon its pursuit of weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles,” he added.
South Korea, the United States and Japan this week condemned North Korea’s launch of three missiles on Tuesday
The United States and South Korea said Pyongyang launched three rockets on Wednesday and may be preparing for its first nuclear test since 2017.
Washington forced a sanctions vote on Korea on Thursday of the North in the UN Security Council but his initiative was vetoed by China and Russia, who argued that this step would increase tensions.
The US representative in the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, accused Beijing and Moscow of emboldening North Korea and announced that Washington would take unilateral action against Pyongyang.
THE CONDEMNATIONS
South Korea, the United States and Japan this week condemned North Korea’s launch of three missiles on Tuesday, including them one that is suspected to have been intercontinental, in violation of international laws and sanctions against the country.
In a statement published after a meeting of the South Korean National Security Council, Seoul “strongly” condemned the test, which it described as a “serious provocation” that increases tension not only in the Korean peninsula, but in Northeast Asia, and that “threatens international peace.”
The statement, picked up by the local news agency Yonhap , collects the opinions exchanged during the meeting, in which the country’s president, Yoon Suk-yeol, ordered “the exhaustive implementation of international sanctions against North Korea.”
Seoul detected this Wednesday the launch between 6:00 local time (9:00 p.m. GMT on Tuesday) and 6:42 a.m. of three projectiles from the Sunan area, in the North Korean capital, of which it believes that the the first would have been an intercontinental missile and the other two short-range, according to the analysis of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS).
(With information from AFP)