US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin takes questions during a media briefing on the administration’s new North Korea sanctions at the White House in Washington on Friday. (AFP Photo)WASHINGTON: The United States on Friday sanctioned 56 vessels, shipping companies and trade businesses linked to North Korea in what President Donald Trump called the "heaviest" sanctions ever imposed on the country. "We imposed today the heaviest sanctions ever imposed on a country before," Mr Trump said in an address to the Conservative Political Action Conference. The 28 vessels -- of which 19 are North Korean-flagged -- are "virtually all the ships" Pyongyang is currently using for its sanctions evasion schemes, Mnuchin said. North Korea is known to falsify and conceal information displayed on North Korean vessels, and conduct ship-to-ship transfers prohibited under a UN Security Council resolution adopted in September.

Source: Bangkok Post February 24, 2018 08:03 UTC