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The United States targeted two Russian banks on Friday under new sanctions for alleged support for North Korea and its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
The sanctions come after what the United States said were three new ballistic missile launches by North Korea on Tuesday, including an intercontinental ballistic missile.
The launches came after President Joe Biden completed a trip to Asia during which he underscored Washington’s commitment to defending its allies against the nuclear threat from the North.
The United States says launches this week brought North Korea’s total for this year to 23, as the isolated country strives to develop and expand the range of its nuclear and missile programs.
FILE – South Korean and American missiles are displayed at the Korea War Memorial Museum in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, May 26, 2022.
Friday’s sanctions targets include two Russian banks, Far Eastern and Sputnik, which the US says do business with US-sanctioned North Korean entities. Bank Sputnik also helped North Korea arrange payments for using Russian satellite services, the Treasury Department said when announcing the sanctions.
The new sanctions also target a North Korean man based in Belarus who the United States says helped generate funds for missile launches, and a trading company.
NORTH KOREA LAUNCHES 3 TEST MISSILES AS BIDEN LEAVES ASIA
This photo distributed by the North Korean government shows what it says is a test firing of a Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), at an undisclosed location in North Korea on March 24.
(Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)
BIDEN AND SOUTH KOREA TO COORDINATE RESPONSE TO NORTH KOREA’S NUCLEAR THREAT
In this photo provided by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attends a meeting of the Workers’ Party of Korea in Pyongyang, North Korea, February 28, 2022.
(Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)
On Thursday, China and Russia vetoed a U.S.-sponsored UN Security Council resolution that would have imposed tough new sanctions on North Korea for its series of intercontinental ballistic missile launches that could be used to deliver nuclear weapons.
Thursday’s vote represented the first serious division among the five permanent members with veto power from the UN’s most powerful body over a North Korea sanctions resolution.
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