New Financial Sanctions Implemented on North Korea
The United States has announced more financial sanctions will be implemented on North Korea:
The United States on Wednesday designated North Korea a “primary money laundering concern,” its newest way of freezing it out of the international financial system to curb its nuclear and missile programs.
South Korea quickly lauded the move, predicting it will have a more “far-reaching effect” than previous financial sanctions.
The U.S. Treasury Department prohibited certain U.S. financial institutions from opening or maintaining correspondent accounts with North Korean financial institutions. It also prohibited the use of third-country U.S. correspondent bank accounts to process transactions for North Korean financial institutions working on behalf of the Kim Jong-un government and state-controlled corporations. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
You can read more at the link, but according to ROK Drop favorite One Free Korea these sanctions are “the single most powerful sanction the United States has ever imposed on North Korea.” That is the good news, but it does make me wonder why did it take this long to finally implement them on North Korea? For those looking for the details on how these sanctions will be implemented I highly recommend reading One Free Korea’s posting. Hopefully these financial sanctions are vigorously enforced considering how skilled North Korea is at avoid past sanctions. If so these sanctions really could hit the Kim regime hard.
