South Korea announced new unilateral sanctions against Pyongyang - the first under President Moon Jae-In - on Monday, a day before US President Donald Trump arrives in Seoul on an Asian tour dominated by the North's nuclear programme. A total of 18 North Korean bankers stationed in China, Russia and Libya with suspected links to the regime's weapons programmes have been blacklisted, a statement posted on the South's government website showed.
"Those individuals have worked overseas, representing North Korean banks and getting involved in supplying money needed to develop weapons of mass destruction," Seoul's foreign ministry said in a statement. All 18 have already been sanctioned by the US, and the announcement came a day before Trump - who has accused South Korea's dovish President Moon Jae-In of "appeasement" - was due to arrive in Seoul.