North Korea slams US for money launderer label

North Korea hit back at the United States on Sunday for labelling it a money-laundering state, describing it as a “nonsensical” effort that only revealed the flaws of existing sanctions pushed by Washington.

The US on Wednesday branded Pyongyang a “global money laundering concern”, aiming to lock the impoverished by nuclear-armed country out of the world financial system.

The move would prevent both direct and indirect North Korean financial activities within the US banking network, ensuring that any third-party deals involving significant sums of US dollar or other currencies cannot transit the US.

But the North’s National Coordination Committee for Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism slammed the US action as “another illegal act of infringing upon the sovereignty and vital rights” of the country.

“The US is loudly calling on the neighbouring countries to increase pressure upon the DPRK ... but the DPRK dismisses this as a nonsensical talk,” it said in a statement carried by the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), using the country’s official name of Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

It claimed Pyongyang had a “well-regulated” system to combat money laundering and was “not frightened in the least” by the latest label.