Washington: The Trump administration took steps on Thursday to penalize a Chinese bank, a Chinese shipping company and two Chinese citizens in an attempt to cut off North Korea’s access to the international financial system. “We are committed to targeting North Korea’s external enablers” and increasing pressure on the regime until it ends its nuclear and ballistic-missile program. Mnuchin said cutting off the flow of money was “very effective” in bringing Iran to the negotiating table and the US is seeking to do the same with North Korea. Trump said earlier this month that China’s efforts to contain North Korea had been unsuccessful. The comment came shortly after the death of Otto Warmbier, a US citizen who was detained in North Korea for more than a year and returned to his parents in a coma.

Source: Mint June 30, 2017 05:03 UTC