These fresh sanctioned are barred from holding U.S. assets or doing business with Americans
The United States has imposed new sanctions on North Korean and Chinese trading companies to isolate the rogue nation over its nuclear weapons development and deprive it of revenue.
The Treasury Department also designated six North Korean shipping and trading companies and 20 vessels as part of its efforts to disrupt funding for the rogue nations nuclear and missile programs.
According to Treasury Department spokesperson, these designations include companies that have engaged in trade with North Korea cumulatively worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
Under sanctions legislation signed by Trump in August, the State Department was required to report to Congress whether it would re-designate North Korea earlier this month. The agency had opted to delay the decision until after the president’s trip to Asia.
The Trump administration is increasingly using economic sanctions to try to influence behaviour, but experts warn the strategy doesn’t always work and can backfire.
Due to North Korean behaviour, Japan is increasingly nervous about North Korean advances in developing nuclear weapons. North Korea has sent missiles over Japan twice this year in tests into the Pacific.
Earlier Singapore last week suspended all commercial trade with North Korea, following a similar move by the Philippines in September.
On the other hand, the Chinese government has said it hopes countries would do more to bring North Korea and others back to talks instead of making tensions worse.
North Korea has accelerated its nuclear program since the second half of 2017, test-firing long-range intercontinental ballistic missiles that could hit the U.S. mainland.
North Korea has a track record of escalating and then lowering tensions to win diplomatic and economic benefits and has been on a war footing since its creation in 1948.
Da Zhigang, a North Korea expert at the Heilongjiang Academy of Social Sciences, said the U.S. move could trigger retaliation from North Korea.