The United States on Friday imposed sanctions on a Russian bank it said had facilitated a transaction with a person blacklisted by Washington for involvement with North Korea's nuclear weapons program.

The move comes as U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo presses Southeast Asian countries during meetings in Singapore to maintain sanctions to pressure Pyongyang, which is in talks with the United States about dismantling its nuclear program.

Sanctions by the United States and the United Nations Security Council, which include a ban on exports of coal, iron, lead, textiles and seafood from North Korea, and caps on imports of oil and refined petroleum products, are aimed at choking off funding for Pyongyang's nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

The U.S. Treasury Department said Moscow-based Agrosoyuz Commercial Bank had conducted "a significant transaction" for Han Jang Su, the Moscow-based chief representative of Foreign Trade Bank (FTB), North Korea's primary foreign exchange bank.

"The United States will continue to enforce UN and U.S. sanctions and shut down illicit revenue streams to North Korea," U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement.

The Treasury also added Ri Jong Won, the Moscow-based deputy representative of FTB, and said both Ri and Han should be expelled from Russia under U.N. resolutions meant to pressure Pyongyang over its nuclear program.

It also designated what it said were two FTB front companies, China-based Dandong Zhongsheng Industry & Trade Co Ltd and Korea Ungum Corporation, which is based in North Korea.

The United States has kept up its pressure campaign on North Korea even as U.S. President Donald Trump has pursued talks with the country's leader, Kim Jong Un, to denuclearize.

Questions have arisen over Pyongyang's commitment to give up its nuclear program after U.S. spy satellite material detected renewed activity at the factory that produced North Korea's first intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of reaching the United States.

In a letter to Trump on Friday, Republican senators Cory Gardner, Lindsey Graham, Marco Rubio and Dan Sullivan urged the administration to tighten sanctions.

"Mr President, we believe that the time to ramp up maximum pressure against North Korea is now, if we are to peacefully achieve the goal of the complete, verifiable, and irreversible denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in the near future," the senators wrote.

Russia on Friday denied a Wall Street Journal report that it was allowing thousands of new North Korean laborers into the country and granting them work permits in a potential breach of U.N. sanctions.</s>United Nations, United States (AFP) - The UN Security Council is poised to back a US proposal aimed at removing some of the hurdles that tough sanctions on North Korea have thrown up in the way of delivering humanitarian aid, according to documents obtained by AFP.

North Korea's humanitarian crisis has left about 10 million people - nearly half of the population - undernourished, according to UN officials, who have reported a drop in food production last year.

UN resolutions specify that sanctions should not affect humanitarian aid but relief organisations argue that strict trade and banking measures are creating bureaucratic obstacles and slowing down the flow of vital supplies.

A US proposal put forward last month would provide clear instructions to aid organisations and governments to apply for UN sanctions exemptions for North Korea, according to the text seen by AFP.

After weeks of negotiations, the UN sanctions committee is expected to give final approval to the new guidelines on Monday.

Once approved, a notice will be sent to the UN's 193 member-states by the committee "to provide a clear explanation of its comprehensive humanitarian exemption mechanism" which will "improve the delivery of humanitarian assistance to DPRK," according to the documents.

The move comes as the United States is calling for maximum pressure to be maintained against North Korea to compel Kim Jong Un to follow through on his pledge to denuclearize the Korean peninsula.

After Russia and China urged the council to ease sanctions, US Ambassador Nikki Haley said the United Nations should not do "one thing" until North Korea takes action to dismantle its nuclear and missile programs.

A US official said the guidelines would ensure that "only critical, life-saving humanitarian activities needed in North Korea can continue" and that requests for exemptions will undergo a detailed review.

"The United States has been very clear that we will continue to enforce the current sanctions until we achieve the final, fully verified, denuclearization of North Korea," said the official, speaking on background.

Asked about the new guidelines, a Dutch official, speaking as the chair of the sanctions committee, said: "We want to make clear that this is about easing the process, not about easing the sanctions." .

The Security Council last year adopted three rafts of sanctions targeting North Korea's economy in response to Pyongyang's sixth nuclear test and a series of ballistic missile launches.

Those sanctions ban North Korea's exports of raw commodities while severely restricting imports of a range of goods and supplies of oil - vital for the country's military.

The measures have had a chilling effect, with UN agencies and aid organisations struggling to find partners willing to deal with the bureaucratic red tape from the tight sanctions regime on North Korea.

"Economic sanctions are not supposed to have an impact on impartial humanitarian action. But they do. They have unintended consequences," said Simon Schorno, the head of aid operations for the International Red Cross in Asia.

"We haven't seen the guidelines yet but we have been promised that they will speed up procedures, exemptions, and generally make processes run smoother. We're hopeful that the guidelines will make carrying out our work easier," he said.

At a UN meeting last month, North Korean Deputy Ambassador Kim in Ryong complained that deliveries of medical equipment such as X-ray machines, anti-malaria insecticides and reproductive health kits had been held up for months.

Kim said humanitarian aid was being "politicised" and argued that denying assistance to North Koreans in need was a violation of human rights.

The United Nations is also facing a major funding shortfall for its aid operations in North Korea.

An appeal for US$111 million in funding for food, medicine and other basic needs for six million North Koreans has so far raised only US$12 million - 10.9 per cent of the total amount needed.

Only four countries have come forward with donations: Switzerland, Sweden, Canada and France.</s>NORTH KOREA: North Korea on Saturday said the US was acting with "alarming" impatience on the issue of denuclearisation, after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo stressed the need to maintain full sanctions pressure on Pyongyang.

The contrasting comments at a security forum in Singapore came after a new UN report showed Pyongyang was continuing with its nuclear and missile programmes and evading sanctions through ship-to-ship oil transfers.

At historic talks with President Donald Trump in June, North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un signed up to a vague commitment to "denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula" -- a far cry from long-standing US demands for complete, verifiable and irreversible disarmament.

While US officials have publicly been optimistic about the agreement, Pyongyang appears to have made little substantial progress and Washington has become concerned that some UN member states are easing sanctions.

At the ASEAN Regional Forum, North Korea's Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho criticised US impatience on denuclearisation.

ALSO READ | North Korea has not stopped nuclear, missile programs: UN report

"What is alarming, however, is the insistent moves manifested within the US to go back to the old, far from its leader's intention," he said, according to a statement.

Since the June agreement, Pyongyang had taken "goodwill measures", including a halt on nuclear and missile tests and "dismantling a nuclear test ground", he said.

"However, the United States, instead of responding to these measures, is raising its voice louder for maintaining the sanctions against the DPRK," he said, using the initials of the North's official name.

"As long as the US does not show in practice its strong will to remove our concerns, there will be no case whereby we will move forward first unilaterally," Ri added.

Earlier at the same forum, Pompeo said he was emphasizing "the importance of maintaining diplomatic and economic pressure on North Korea" but also said that he was "optimistic" about the prospects for progress when it came to North Korean denuclearisation.

At Saturday's meeting, the US delegation also delivered a letter from Trump intended for Kim, by passing it to Ri, said the State Department.

On sanctions, Pompeo singled out Russia after reports suggested Moscow breached sanctions by granting work permits to North Korean workers.

During meetings with other foreign ministers in Singapore, Pompeo said he had called specifically for sanctions to be enforced through halting ship-to-ship oil transfers.

Cutting off oil and fuel to the North would require enforcement primarily by China, which supplies most of North Korea's energy needs, but also by Russia, which delivers some oil to Pyongyang.

Saturday's forum, hosted by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), brings together top diplomats from 26 countries and the European Union for talks on political and security issues in the Asia-Pacific.

"Impatience is not helpful at all for building confidence. Especially, advancing unilateral demands will further deepen mistrust, instead of reviving trust," said the statement.

"As long as the US does not show in practice its strong will to remove our concerns, there will be no case whereby we will move forward first unilaterally," Ri added.

Earlier Pompeo urged major powers attending the same forum, including China and Russia, to keep up sanctions pressure against the North.

At landmark talks in June with US President Donald Trump, the North's leader Kim Jong Un signed up to a vague commitment to "denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula" -- a far cry from long-standing US demands for complete, verifiable and irreversible disarmament.

US officials have publicly been optimistic about the agreement but progress appears to have been slow.</s>WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Friday imposed sanctions on a Russian bank it said had facilitated a transaction with a person blacklisted by Washington for involvement with North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.

The move comes as U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is set to press Southeast Asian countries during meetings in Singapore on Saturday to maintain sanctions against Pyongyang, which is in talks with the United States about dismantling its nuclear program.

The U.S. Treasury Department said Moscow-based Agrosoyuz Commercial Bank had conducted “a significant transaction” for Han Jang Su, the Moscow-based chief representative of Foreign Trade Bank, North Korea’s primary foreign exchange bank.

“The United States will continue to enforce UN and U.S. sanctions and shut down illicit revenue streams to North Korea,” U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement.

The Treasury also added Ri Jong Won, the Moscow-based deputy representative of FTB, and said both of the sanctioned FTB representatives should be expelled from Russia under United Nations resolutions meant to pressure Pyongyang over its nuclear program.

It also designated what it said were two FTB front companies, China-based Dandong Zhongsheng Industry & Trade Co Ltd and Korea Ungum Corporation, which is based in North Korea.

The United States has kept up its pressure campaign on North Korea even as U.S. President Donald Trump has pursued talks with the country’s leader, Kim Jong Un, to denuclearize.</s>UNITED NATIONS/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Friday accused Russia of violating U.N. sanctions on North Korea, citing “credible reports” that Moscow was granting new work permits to North Korean laborers despite Russia’s denial of any such actions.

The Trump administration also imposed targeted U.S sanctions on a Russian bank it said had facilitated a transaction with a person blacklisted by Washington for involvement with North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.

This came on the same day that U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, less than two months after a landmark U.S.-North Korea summit in Singapore, flew back to the city-state and suggested that continued work on weapons programs by North Korea was inconsistent with its leader’s commitment to denuclearization.

Russia denied a report by the Wall Street Journal that said Moscow was allowing thousands of fresh North Korean laborers into the country and granting them work permits in a potential breach of U.N sanctions.

Over 10,000 new North Korean workers have registered in Russia since September, the newspaper said, citing records from Russia’s interior ministry.

Russia’s action potentially violates U.N. sanctions aimed at pressuring Pyongyang to give up its nuclear weapons, the Journal reported, citing U.S. officials.

It also raises further questions about the extent to which North Korea’s larger neighbors, including its biggest trading partner, China, are willing to keep up enforcement of U.S.-led international sanctions on Pyongyang.

In the summit with U.S. President Donald Trump on June 12, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who is seeking relief from tough sanctions, committed in broad terms to work towards denuclearization of the Korean peninsula. But Pyongyang has offered no details on how it might go about this, and many experts doubt it will ever give up its nuclear arsenal.

“Credible reports of Russia violating U.N. Security Council resolutions on North Korean laborers working abroad are deeply troubling,” U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said later on Friday.

“Talk is cheap - Russia cannot support sanctions with their words in the Security Council only to violate them with their actions,” Haley said in a statement.

Alexander Matsegora, Russia’s ambassador to North Korea, denied Moscow had allowed any new workers to enter Russia, saying fresh documents had been issued to laborers already based in Russia who were working on old contracts, Interfax news agency reported.

He said the laborers were allowed to work in Russia until Nov. 29, 2019 as their work contracts had been signed before sanctions came into force, Interfax reported. He said 3,500 new work permits had been issued to workers who had signed contracts in Russia before Nov. 29, 2017, Interfax reported.

Labour Ministry records obtained by the Journal showed that a minimum of 700 new work permits had been issued to North Koreans in Russia this year, the paper said.

“It is estimated that North Korean laborers in Russia send between $150-$300 million annually to Pyongyang,” a U.S. State Department spokesperson said. “Moscow should immediately and fully implement all the U.N. sanctions.”

The labor prohibition is a part of a broader array of sanctions aimed at eliminating an important revenue stream for North Korea. Most of the money North Koreans earn abroad ends up in government coffers as workers toil in grueling conditions, the Journal reported.

A separate report released on Thursday by the non-profit research organization C4ADS said initial restrictions in China and Russia - where around 80 percent of North Korean laborers are believed to work - appear to have loosened.

In Friday’s sanctions announcement, the U.S. Treasury Department said Moscow-based Agrosoyuz Commercial Bank had conducted “a significant transaction” for Han Jang Su, the Moscow-based chief representative of Foreign Trade Bank (FTB), North Korea’s primary foreign exchange bank.

The Treasury also added Ri Jong Won, the Moscow-based deputy representative of FTB, to its sanctions list and said both Ri and Han should be expelled from Russia.

A separate report released this week by the Seoul-based Asan Institute for Policy Studies said between 2015 and 2017 the Moscow-based Independent Petroleum Company (IPC) sold far more oil to North Korea than what was officially reported.

Russia’s ambassador to North Korea also denied Moscow was flouting U.N. restrictions on oil supplies to North Korea.

In September last year, Reuters found that at least eight North Korean ships that left Russia with a cargo of fuel had headed for their homeland despite declaring other destinations, a ploy that U.S. officials say is often used to undermine sanctions.</s>The Treasury Department slapped sanctions on a Russian bank on Friday, accusing it of processing transactions for North Korea in violation of United Nations sanctions.

Agrosoyuz Commercial Bank knowingly facilitated "a significant transaction" on behalf of a person affiliated with North Korea's weapons of mass destruction, the agency said in a statement.

The individual was named as Han Jang Su, the Moscow-based chief representative of North Korea's primary foreign exchange bank, the Foreign Trade Bank.

The statement also detailed a long relationship between the Russian bank and North Korea. The bank held, processed and transferred millions of dollars for North Korea, despite sanctions which are meant to isolate it economically.

Agrosoyuz also knowingly opened bank accounts for North Korean front companies, according to the Treasury Department. By 2018, the bank had allowed one front company to invest nearly $2.5 million in Russian rubles in an account.

The government agency also singled out Ri Jong Won, the deputy representative of FTB in Moscow, and said that both men should be expelled from Russia under a U.N. resolution.

"The United States will continue to enforce UN and U.S. sanctions and shut down illicit revenue streams to North Korea," Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said. "Our sanctions will remain in place until we have achieved the final, fully-verified denuclearization of North Korea."

The sanctions come as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urges Southeast Asian countries to continue pressuring Pyongyang until North Korea gives up its nuclear weapons.

But some analysts have voiced concern that the country may not have real intentions to disarm. "Commercial satellite imagery from June 21 indicates that improvements to the infrastructure at North Korea's Yongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Center are continuing at a rapid pace," monitoring site 38 North said in June, days after President Trump met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Intelligence agencies detected activity at a large factory on the outskirts of the capital where North Korea's first intercontinental ballistic missiles, capable of striking the United States, were produced. "The weapons factories — and there are hundreds of facilities in North Korea, we have to remember — are just continuing to do work as normal," Joby Warrick of The Washington Post told NPR.

U.S. officials also told NBC that North Korea increased its fuel for nuclear weapons at several secret sites.

It's unclear when Russia started supporting North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile programs and to what extent. A study released in 2017 by the International Institute for Strategic Studies said North Korea's success with intercontinental ballistic missiles was made possible by black market purchases. Researcher Michael Elleman told NPR that it seemed that "criminal gangs were able to access something and export it from either Ukraine or Russia."

The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday that Russia is letting thousands of North Korean laborers into the country and giving them new permits to work.

Congress is urging the Trump administration to tighten sanctions on Russia because of its inference in U.S. elections, activity in Syria and annexation of Crimea.

On Thursday, Sen. Cory Gardner said he was putting forth a bipartisan sanctions package with Sens. Lindsey Graham, Ben Cardin, John McCain, Jeanne Shaheen and Bob Menendez. "It is one of the most hard-hitting pieces of legislation ever introduced against the Russian Federation," Gardner said.

He added that the measure "includes my language requiring the State Department to determine whether Russia merits the designation of a State Sponsor of Terror, joining Kremlin allies Iran and Syria."

The Treasury Department also imposed sanctions on a China-based trading company, Dandong Zhongsheng Industry & Trade Co. Ltd., and Korea Ungum Corporation.</s>UNITED NATIONS: The UN Security Council is poised to back a US proposal aimed at removing some of the hurdles that tough sanctions on North Korea have thrown up in the way of delivering humanitarian aid, according to documents obtained by AFP.

North Korea's humanitarian crisis has left about 10 million people - nearly half of the population - undernourished, according to UN officials, who have reported a drop in food production last year.

UN resolutions specify that sanctions should not affect humanitarian aid but relief organizations argue that strict trade and banking measures are creating bureaucratic obstacles and slowing down the flow of vital supplies.

A US proposal put forward last month would provide clear instructions to aid organizations and governments to apply for UN sanctions exemptions for North Korea, according to the text seen by AFP.

After weeks of negotiations, the UN sanctions committee is expected to give final approval to the new guidelines on Monday.

Once approved, a notice will be sent to the UN's 193 member-states by the committee "to provide a clear explanation of its comprehensive humanitarian exemption mechanism" which will "improve the delivery of humanitarian assistance to DPRK," according to the documents.

The move comes as the United States is calling for maximum pressure to be maintained against North Korea to compel Kim Jong Un to follow through on his pledge to denuclearize the Korean peninsula.

READ: Kim Jong Un commits to 'complete denuclearisation' in joint text with Trump at Singapore Summit

READ: Pompeo to urge Asian countries to enforce UN sanctions on North Korea

After Russia and China urged the council to ease sanctions, US Ambassador Nikki Haley said the United Nations should not do "one thing" until North Korea takes action to dismantle its nuclear and missile programs.

A US official said the guidelines would ensure that "only critical, life-saving humanitarian activities needed in North Korea can continue" and that requests for exemptions will undergo a detailed review.

"The United States has been very clear that we will continue to enforce the current sanctions until we achieve the final, fully verified, denuclearization of North Korea," said the official, speaking on background.

Asked about the new guidelines, a Dutch official, speaking as the chair of the sanctions committee, said: "We want to make clear that this is about easing the process, not about easing the sanctions."

The Security Council last year adopted three rafts of sanctions targeting North Korea's economy in response to Pyongyang's sixth nuclear test and a series of ballistic missile launches.

Those sanctions ban North Korea's exports of raw commodities while severely restricting imports of a range of goods and supplies of oil - vital for the country's military.

The measures have had a chilling effect, with UN agencies and aid organizations struggling to find partners willing to deal with the bureaucratic red tape from the tight sanctions regime on North Korea.

"Economic sanctions are not supposed to have an impact on impartial humanitarian action. But they do. They have unintended consequences," said Simon Schorno, the head of aid operations for the International Red Cross in Asia.

"We haven't seen the guidelines yet but we have been promised that they will speed up procedures, exemptions, and generally make processes run smoother. We're hopeful that the guidelines will make carrying out our work easier," he said.

At a UN meeting last month, North Korean Deputy Ambassador Kim in Ryong complained that deliveries of medical equipment such as X-ray machines, anti-malaria insecticides and reproductive health kits had been held up for months.

Kim said humanitarian aid was being "politicized" and argued that denying assistance to North Koreans in need was a violation of human rights.

The United Nations is also facing a major funding shortfall for its aid operations in North Korea.

An appeal for US$111 million in funding for food, medicine and other basic needs for six million North Koreans has so far raised only US$12 million - 10.9 per cent of the total amount needed.

Only four countries have come forward with donations: Switzerland, Sweden, Canada and France.</s>United Nations, United States - The UN Security Council is poised to back a US proposal aimed at removing some of the hurdles that tough sanctions on North Korea have thrown up in the way of delivering humanitarian aid, according to documents obtained by AFP.

North Korea's humanitarian crisis has left about 10 million people - nearly half of the population - undernourished, according to UN officials, who have reported a drop in food production last year.

UN resolutions specify that sanctions should not affect humanitarian aid but relief organisations argue that strict trade and banking measures are creating bureaucratic obstacles and slowing down the flow of vital supplies.

A US proposal put forward last month would provide clear instructions to aid organisations and governments to apply for UN sanctions exemptions for North Korea, according to the text seen by AFP.

After weeks of negotiations, the UN sanctions committee is expected to give final approval to the new guidelines on Monday.

Once approved, a notice will be sent to the UN's 193 member-states by the committee "to provide a clear explanation of its comprehensive humanitarian exemption mechanism" which will "improve the delivery of humanitarian assistance to DPRK," according to the documents.

The move comes as the United States is calling for maximum pressure to be maintained against North Korea to compel Kim Jong Un to follow through on his pledge to denuclearize the Korean peninsula.

After Russia and China urged the council to ease sanctions, US Ambassador Nikki Haley said the United Nations should not do "one thing" until North Korea takes action to dismantle its nuclear and missile programs.

A US official said the guidelines would ensure that "only critical, life-saving humanitarian activities needed in North Korea can continue" and that requests for exemptions will undergo a detailed review.

"The United States has been very clear that we will continue to enforce the current sanctions until we achieve the final, fully verified, denuclearization of North Korea," said the official, speaking on background.

Asked about the new guidelines, a Dutch official, speaking as the chair of the sanctions committee, said: "We want to make clear that this is about easing the process, not about easing the sanctions." .

The Security Council last year adopted three rafts of sanctions targeting North Korea's economy in response to Pyongyang's sixth nuclear test and a series of ballistic missile launches.

Those sanctions ban North Korea's exports of raw commodities while severely restricting imports of a range of goods and supplies of oil - vital for the country's military.

The measures have had a chilling effect, with UN agencies and aid organisations struggling to find partners willing to deal with the bureaucratic red tape from the tight sanctions regime on North Korea.

"Economic sanctions are not supposed to have an impact on impartial humanitarian action. But they do. They have unintended consequences," said Simon Schorno, the head of aid operations for the International Red Cross in Asia.

"We haven't seen the guidelines yet but we have been promised that they will speed up procedures, exemptions, and generally make processes run smoother. We're hopeful that the guidelines will make carrying out our work easier," he said.

At a UN meeting last month, North Korean Deputy Ambassador Kim In-ryong complained that deliveries of medical equipment such as X-ray machines, anti-malaria insecticides and reproductive health kits had been held up for months.

Kim said humanitarian aid was being "politicised" and argued that denying assistance to North Koreans in need was a violation of human rights.

The United Nations is also facing a major funding shortfall for its aid operations in North Korea.

An appeal for US$111 million in funding for food, medicine and other basic needs for six million North Koreans has so far raised only US$12 million - 10.9 per cent of the total amount needed.

Only four countries have come forward with donations: Switzerland, Sweden, Canada and France.</s>US and North Korean officials have traded polite words and then barbs in the latest round of diplomacy, leaving efforts to rid Pyongyang of its nuclear weapons at an uncertain point. At a security conference in Singapore, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accused North Korea and countries including Russia of continuing to violate UN sanctions aimed at pressing the North to give up its nuclear arsenal. But at the same time, he oversaw the handover of a letter to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un from US President Donald Trump and exchanged pleasantries with the North’s foreign minister Ri Yong Ho. Mr Ri, meanwhile, greeted Mr Pompeo with a smile and posed for photos – but then delivered a scathing attack on the Trump administration for approaching the negotiation poorly by insisting on sanctions enforcement.

Mr Ri said North Korea would not be forced into acting unilaterally, and demanded that the US undertakes “confidence building” measures if the negotiation is to be successful. After Mr Pompeo warned once again that no sanctions would be lifted until North Korea fully and finally denuclearises, Mr Ri told the annual ASEAN Regional Forum that the North will not be bullied into concessions. “Confidence is not a sentiment to be cultivated overnight,” he said. “In order to build full confidence between the DPRK and the US, it is essential for both sides to take simultaneous actions and phased steps to do what is possible one after another. “Only when the US ensures that we feel comfortable with and come close to it, will we be able to open our minds to the US and show it in action.”

The US has previously dismissed calls for a phased approach, insisting that sanctions be maintained until the North delivers on its commitments but suggesting some other steps may be possible. Mr Ri, though, appeared unmoved and accused elements of the US government of going against Mr Trump’s wishes by taking a hard line on sanctions. “What is alarming, however, is the insistent moves manifested within the US to go back to the old, far from its leader’s intention,” he said. Instead of responding reciprocally to North Korea’s suspension of nuclear tests and missile launches and other goodwill gestures such as the return of suspected remains of American troops killed in the Korean War, the US has maintained hostility, Mr Ri said. “The United States, instead of responding to these measures, is raising its voice louder for maintaining the sanctions against the DPRK and showing the attitude to retreat even from declaring the end of war, a very basic and primary step for providing peace on the Korean Peninsula,” he said.

He also accused Washington of taking “extremely inappropriate moves” by discouraging third countries from sending high-level delegations to the North’s 70th anniversary celebrations in September. Mr Pompeo had already left the meeting in Singapore when Mr Ri delivered his remarks in order to travel to Jakarta for talks with senior Indonesian officials. As he arrived in Jakarta, the State Department said that a written reply to Mr Kim from Mr Trump had been delivered to Mr Ri in Singapore. “We had a quick, polite exchange,” Mr Pompeo tweeted. “Our US delegation also had the opportunity to deliver (Trump’s) reply to Chairman Kim’s letter.” State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said Mr Trump’s reply to Mr Kim was given to Mr Ri by Sung Kim, the US ambassador to the Philippines who has been leading logistical negotiations with the North on its pledge to denuclearise. Ms Nauert would not address the content of the letter. The White House said earlier in the week that the North Korean leader had sent a new letter to Mr Trump and that the president had written a response.</s>WASHINGTON – The United States on Friday imposed sanctions on a Russian bank it said had facilitated a transaction with a person blacklisted by Washington for involvement with North Korea‘s nuclear weapons program.

The move comes as U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is set to press Southeast Asian countries during meetings in Singapore on Saturday to maintain sanctions against Pyongyang, which is in talks with the United States about dismantling its nuclear program.

READ MORE: North Korea on U.S. agenda at Asia security meeting amid reports of new missile building

The U.S. Treasury Department said Moscow-based Agrosoyuz Commercial Bank had conducted “a significant transaction” for Han Jang Su, the Moscow-based chief representative of Foreign Trade Bank, North Korea’s primary foreign exchange bank.

WATCH: Remains of U.S. servicemen killed in Korea loaded onto military plane



“The United States will continue to enforce UN and U.S. sanctions and shut down illicit revenue streams to North Korea,” U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement.

The Treasury also added Ri Jong Won, the Moscow-based deputy representative of FTB, and said both of the sanctioned FTB representatives should be expelled from Russia under United Nations resolutions meant to pressure Pyongyang over its nuclear program.

READ MORE: Hawaii military lab to analyze, ID remains of U.S. soldiers repatriated from North Korea

It also designated what it said were two FTB front companies, China-based Dandong Zhongsheng Industry & Trade Co Ltd and Korea Ungum Corporation, which is based in North Korea.

The United States has kept up its pressure campaign on North Korea even as U.S. President Donald Trump has pursued talks with the country’s leader, Kim Jong Un, to denuclearize.
The United States imposes sanctions on a Russian bank that facilitated a transaction for a North Korean on an American blacklist.