Donald Trump and Kim Jung-Un. Photo courtesy of CNN.
Summary: President Donald Trump has put new trade sanctions on North Korea.
On Friday, President Donald Trump announced that the US Treasury Department is enacting new sanctions against North Korea. According to CNN, the sanctions will target the company’s shipping and trading companies.
“North Korea, we imposed today the heaviest sanctions ever imposed by our country before. And frankly, hopefully, something positive can happen. We will see, but hopefully something positive can happen,” Trump said. “That just was announced and I wanted to let you know.”
The US government issued sanctions against 27 entities and 28 vessels that work with North Korea. These entities and vessels were from several countries, including North Korea, China, and Singapore; and they included companies such as Chonmyong Shipping Company Limited, Hapjanggang Shipping and Korea Achim Shipping Co.
“The US is aggressively targeting all illicit avenues used by North Korea to evade sanctions, including taking decisive action to block vessels, shipping companies, and entities across the globe that work on North Korea’s behalf,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said.
Mnuchin added that Trump wanted other countries to know that if they helped North Korea’s economy that there would be consequences.
“The President has made it clear to companies worldwide that if they choose to help fund North Korea’s nuclear ambitions, they will not do business with the United States,” Mnuchin said.
The government said that the new sanctions are not meant to punish North Korea, but instead, send a message to countries that did business with it.
“The President is clearly frustrated, and rightly so, over efforts that have failed in the past and also over the uptick in testing and the advancements we have seen in the North Korean program in the recent period of time and over the last couple of decades,” a government official said.
The government said that these sanctions focus on “elicit maritime activity” but that they were designed as part of an overall plan to stop North Korea’s dictator from creating and using nuclear weapons.
“There is no doubt we all have to do more, short of direct military action, to show (North Korean leader) Kim Jong Un we mean business,” a senior administration official said to Reuters.
According to Reuters, the US “strategy calls for closer tracking and possible seizure of ships suspected of carrying banned weapons components and other prohibited cargo to or from North Korea, according to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Depending on the scale of the campaign, the United States could consider beefing up the naval and air power of its Pacific Command, they said.”