Trump announced new US sanctions on Thursday that he said would allow the targeting of companies and institutions which finance and facilitate trade with North Korea. The US treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin, also said banks doing business in North Korea would not be allowed to operate in the US. China has also urged calm, with the foreign minister, Wang Yi, telling his Japanese counterpart that Tokyo should not abandon dialogue over North Korea. “I’m not suggesting diplomatic but economic leverage over North Korea, and from my discussions with the US administration I’m confident the US and China are engaged in very serious dialogue about how they are going to bring North Korea to the negotiating table.”Q&A Why does the North Korean regime pursue a nuclear programme? The US and South Korea are technically still at war with North Korea because the 1950-53 war ended with a truce, not a peace treaty.

Source: The Guardian September 23, 2017 08:43 UTC