NEW YORK, Sept 21 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump said the United States will add more sanctions against North Korea on Thursday, as U.S. allies have called for enforcing international sanctions as the best way to get Pyongyang to give up its nuclear weapons program.
Trump said that the United States will begin to sanction financial institutions who knowingly do business with North Korea. “For much too long, North Korea has been able to abuse the international financial system,” to finance its nuclear ambitions, he said. He also called the North Korean government a “criminal, rogue regime” and a “brutal regime” that doesn’t respect its own citizens.
“Our new executive order will cut off sources of revenue that fund North Korea‘s efforts to develop the deadliest weapons known to humankind,” he told reporters ahead of a luncheon meeting with the leaders of Japan and South Korea.
He said North Korea‘s textiles, fishing, information technology, and manufacturing industries were among those the United States could target.
Trump also expressed his appreciation to China, which recently told its banks that they could no longer do business with North Korea.
READ MORE: Sanctions alone won’t change North Korea’s behaviour, say experts
Tensions have risen in recent weeks over North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile tests, despite intense pressure from world powers.
READ MORE: Donald Trump calls Kim Jong Un ‘rocket man,’ warns U.S. may have to ‘totally destroy’ North Korea
U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin will hold a news briefing at 3 p.m. and U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley will brief the news media at 4:30 p.m., the White House said.
On Tuesday, Trump said in his speech to the U.N. that he would “totally destroy” North Korea if threatened and mocked its leader Kim Jong Un as a “rocket man” for his repeated ballistic missile tests.
(Reporting by Steve Holland and Yara Bayoumy, Susan Heavey; Editing by Tim Ahmann and Grant McCool)
Comments