US slaps sanctions on key NKorea bank The United States is upping the pressure on North Korea to abandon its nuclear program. THE United States has slapped sanctions on North Korea's primary foreign exchange bank and four senior officials, upping the pressure on Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear program. The new measures imposed by the Treasury and State Departments comes after Pyongyang flouted international resolutions and conducted its third nuclear test last month, triggering global condemnation. Washington will "continue to work with allies and partners to tighten national and international sanctions to impede North Korea's nuclear and missile programs," US national security advisor Tom Donilon said in New York on Monday. The Treasury imposed sanctions on the Foreign Trade Bank (FTB) of North Korea and Paek Se-Bong, the chairman of the North's Second Economic Committee, which is responsible for overseeing the production of ballistic missiles. Separately, the US State Department named to its sanctions list three North Korean officials with links to Pyongyang's weapons program. They are Pak To-Chun, head of the Munitions Industry Department, Chu Kyu-Chang, alternate member of the Korean Worker Party's political bureau, and O Kuk-Ryol, Vice Chairman of the North Korean National Defence Commission. "North Korea uses FTB to facilitate transactions on behalf of actors linked to its proliferation network, which is under increasing pressure from recent international sanctions," said David Cohen, Treasury under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence. The State Department warned Pyongyang that it would "continue to face isolation if it refuses to take concrete steps to comply with its international obligations and address the concerns of the international community." US sanctions forbid any US individual, business or organisation from any transactions with the people or groups named. The announcement came as South Korea and the United States launched joint drills on Monday involving thousands of troops, defying North Korea's apocalyptic threat to repudiate the 60-year-old Korean War armistice in retaliation. The start of the two-week "Key Resolve" exercise follows a week of escalating tensions on the Korean peninsula, with Pyongyang also threatening nuclear war over UN sanctions.