The Trump administration announced today new sanctions targeting a Russian bank, two North Korean entities and one North Korean citizen for facilitating “illegal financial activity.”
The new sanctions (The official source is available there), announced by the Treasury Department, came as President Donald Trump continued to pursue negotiations with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula, as well as seeking improved relations with Russia.
The Russian-registered bank AgrosoyuzCommercial Bank was already sanctioned for doing business with Han Jang-su, a North Korean who Treasury said was the “Moscow-based chief representative of Foreign Trade Bank, North Korea’s primary foreign exchange bank.” As of now his deputy, Ri Jong Won, is also sanctioned.
The two newly sanctioned North Korean entities, DandongZhongsheng Industry & Trade Co., Ltd. (Zhongsheng), and Korea Ungum Corporation, were both described in the Treasury announcement as front companies for FTB, the North Korean bank.
