Trump boosts financial sanctions against North Korea over nuclear weapons programme

NewsBharati    22-Sep-2017
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Washington, September 22: The United States President Donald Trump on Thursday signed a new executive order that boosts sanctions against North Korea over its nuclear weapons programme. Notably, the action by President Trump was taken with an aim to crack down on individuals, banks, and businesses that are involved in trade with North Korea to abandon its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

 

President Trump Trump said during a summit with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and South Korean President Moon Jae-in said that foreign banks will face a clear choice, do business with the United States or facilitate trade with the lawless regime in North Korea. "It is unacceptable that others financially support this criminal, rogue regime," President Trump added.

However, President Trump also said that China's Central Bank had instructed other Chinese banks to stop doing business with Pyongyang. Trump said his executive order, announced shortly after China said the country had instructed its banks to strictly enforce international sanctions against North Korea and to cut revenue that fund North Korea's efforts to develop the deadliest nuclear weapons.

"The order also includes measures designed to disrupt critical North Korean shipping and trade networks," the president added. "This is a complete denuclearization of North Korea that we seek. We cannot have this as a world body any longer."

The president's announcement came as he and his counterparts from Japan and South Korea planned to discuss a path forward that deals with the Kim Jong-un's increased aggression in the region without taking military action.

"In the last three weeks, two times North Korea launched ballistic missiles over Japan and they conducted six nuclear tests," Abe said during the luncheon with Trump, Moon and senior officials from all three countries. "The scale of the tests was beyond the scale of the Hiroshima bombs."

The action comes less than two weeks after the UN approved new sanctions against the country over its latest nuclear test. Tensions have risen in recent weeks over the North's continued nuclear and ballistic missile tests, despite pressure from world powers to stop.


Earlier, in his maiden address to the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, Trump had warned North Korea of total destruction if its leader Kim Jong-Un, continued with his provocative behaviour. North Korea fired a missile over Japan earlier this month and tested a hydrogen bomb.


North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un has said his country will consider the highest level of hard-line countermeasure in history against the United States. He said this in response to US President Donald Trump's threat to destroy North Korea. Meanwhile, calling Trump mentally deranged and his comments the most ferocious declaration of a war in history, Kim said his UN speech on Tuesday confirmed Pyongyang's nuclear programme has been the correct path.