US targets N.Korea’s weapons of mass destruction program with sanctions

Washington’s latest move to pressure Pyongyang over its renewed ballistic missile launches came a day after China and Russia vetoed a US-led push to impose more United Nations sanctions on North Korea.

According to the US, North Korea has launched six tests of intercontinental ballistic missiles this year, and there are signs of Pyongyang preparing to conduct its first nuclear tests since 2017.

The US Treasury Department said it targeted Air Koryo Trading Corp as well as Russian financial firms for contributing to procurement and revenue generation for North Korean organizations. 

Washington also sanctioned Jong Yong Nam, a representative of an organization subordinate to the North Korea Second Academy of Natural Sciences, who the US said supports North Korean firms linked to the development of ballistic missiles.

"The United States will continue to implement and enforce existing sanctions while urging [North Korea] to return to a diplomatic path and abandon its pursuit of weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles," the US Treasury's Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, Brian Nelson, said.