US considering all available tools to sanction N. Korea

This article is more than 12 months old

May 15, 2017 06:00 am

WASHINGTON: The US Treasury is considering all of its available tools to deny North Korea access to the international financial system to rein in Pyongyang's nuclear weapons and missile development programmes, a senior Treasury official said.

"We are entertaining all of the tools in our arsenal, including programmes that come from TFI and OFAC offices and similar ones to try to stop them," the official said before news broke that North Korea had yesterday fired another ballistic missile into the Sea of Japan.

The official was referring to sanctions and other programmes administered by the Treasury's Terrorism and Financial Intelligence division and the Office of Foreign Assets Control.

North Korea fired the ballistic missile days after a new leader took office in the South, pledging to engage in dialogue with Pyongyang, South Korea said,

Earlier on Saturday, US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he made efforts to combat terrorism and illicit finance - which includes sanctions on North Korea - a key focus of his discussions with his counterparts from the Group of Seven industrial economies.

Mr Mnuchin said that for him, terrorism and illicit finance issues outweighed his discussions of the Trump administration's trade policies at the G7 meeting in Bari, Italy. - REUTERS