US blocks North Korea access to its financial system
The US Treasury Department has issued new rules, banning American financial institutions from opening or maintaining accounts created on behalf of North Korean banks.
The move on Friday, which extended sanctions already imposed on the isolated Asian country over its nuclear and missile programs, closed off Pyongyang's access to the US financial system.
The American financial institutions must "apply additional due diligence measures to prevent North Korean financial institutions from gaining improper indirect access to US correspondent accounts," according to a statement by the Treasury Department.
"North Korea continues to use front companies and agents to conduct illicit financial transactions — some of which support the proliferation of WMD and the development of ballistic missiles — and evade international sanctions," said Adam J. Szubin, acting under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence.
"Such funds have no place in any reputable financial system," he said.
The decision comes after the Treasury in June declared North Korea a "primary money laundering concern."
The US is pushing for tougher United Nations sanctions against North Korea after it conducted its fifth and biggest nuclear test on September 9.
The test prompted the UN Security Council to announce that it would begin to prepare a fresh round of sanctions against Pyongyang.
In January, North Korea said it had successfully detonated a hydrogen bomb, its fourth nuclear test, to counter what it describes as joint US and South Korean “provocations” in the region.
Pyongyang says it will not abandon its nuclear military program unless Washington ends its hostile policy toward North Korea and dissolves the US-led command in South Korea.
The country has also been testing different types of missiles at an unprecedented rate so far this year.
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