US imposes fresh sanctions on Chinese and North Korean companies

The Trump administration imposed new sanctions on a slew of North Korean shipping firms and Chinese trading companies on Tuesday in its latest push to isolate the rogue nation over its nuclear weapons development and deprive it of revenue.

The Treasury Department also designated a North Korean corporation involved in exporting workers overseas. The action came a day after the United States returned North Korea to its list of state sponsors of terrorism.

“These designations include companies that have engaged in trade with North Korea cumulatively worth hundreds of millions of dollars,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement. “We are also sanctioning the shipping and transport companies, and their vessels, that facilitate North Korea’s trade and its deceptive manoeuvres.”

Among the companies targeted were four Chinese-based companies and one Chinese individual said to have deep commercial ties with North Korea. The sanctions were imposed under a September executive order that opened the way for the US to punish foreign companies dealing with the North. It bars those sanctioned from holding US assets or doing business with Americans.

The Dandong Kehua Economy & Trade Co Ltd, Dandong Xianghe Trading Co Ltd, and Dandong Hongda Trade Co Ltd are alleged to have exported about US$650 million worth of goods to North Korea and imported more than US$100 million from North Korea since 2013. The goods included notebook computers, anthracite coal, iron and other commodities and ferrous products.

Also sanctioned was Chinese national Sun Sidong and his company, Dandong Dongyuan Industrial Co, said to have exported more than US$28 million worth of goods to the North.

The targeting of Chinese companies is a potential sore point with Beijing, whose help Trump is counting on to put an economic squeeze on Pyongyang. China recently sent its highest-level envoy to North Korea in two years to discuss the tense state of affairs on the Korean Peninsula.

As part of its effort to stymie North Korean transport networks, Treasury sanctioned North Korea’s Maritime Administration and its transport ministry, six North Korean shipping and trading companies and 20 of their vessels, which are all North Korean-flagged.

It accused North Korea of deceptive shipping practises, including ship-to-ship transfers, which is prohibited under UN sanctions that have been imposed in response to Pyongyang’s rapid tempo of nuclear and ballistic missile tests. The Treasury statement included aerial photos of what it said was Korea Kumbyol Trading Company’s vessel Rye Song Gang 1 possibly transferring oil to evade sanctions that have restricted fuel exports to the North.

Also sanctioned was the Korea South-South Cooperation Corporation said to have exported North Korean workers to China, Russia, Cambodia and Poland to generate revenue for the government.

When President Donald Trump announced the terror designation of North Korea on Monday, he promised to intensify the “maximum pressure” campaign against Pyongyang with the “highest level” of sanctions yet – part of a rolling effort to compel it to negotiate over its nuclear programme which poses a threat to the US mainland.

An editorial on Tuesday in North Korea’s ruling party newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, called Trump a “heinous criminal” who had insulted the dignity of the country’s supreme leadership and its socialist system during his recent visit to South Korea. The editorial, carried by the state-run news agency, threatened “merciless punishment.” It did not mention the terror designation or the threat of new sanctions.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson acknowledged on Monday a two-month pause in the North’s nuclear and missile tests and said there was still hope for diplomacy. With tougher sanctions in the offing, he warned Kim: “This is only going to get worse until you’re ready to come and talk.”