The United States on Friday slapped sanctions on a Russian bank for helping North Korea evade UN Security Council measures designed to curb Pyongyang's nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs. The US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said it also targeted an individual and two entities for "facilitating North Korean illicit financial activity."
"The United States will continue to enforce UN and US sanctions and shut down illicit revenue streams to North Korea," Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement. "Our sanctions will remain in place until we have achieved the final, fully-verified denuclearization of North Korea." The sanctions freeze any property or assets on US soil held by the designated entities, and bar US citizens from doing business with them. OFAC said it imposed sanctions on Agrosoyuz Commercial Bank, the Russian financial institution, for "knowingly conducting or facilitating a significant transaction" on behalf of Han Jang Su, the Moscow-based chief representative of Foreign Trade Bank (FTB), North Korea's primary foreign exchange bank.