(CNN) — The US government announced Friday a fresh batch of sanctions targeting a Russian bank for helping the North Korean regime develop its nuclear weapons program. The latest action taken by the Treasury Department also targets one individual and two front companies for facilitating illicit North Korean 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.” Russia’s Agrosoyuz Commercial Bank was targeted by Treasury for aiding transactions on behalf of Han Jang Su, the Moscow-based chief representative of Foreign Trade Bank, North Korea’s primary foreign exchange bank. The US government also imposed sanctions against the FTB’s deputy representative, Ri Jong Won. Both Su and FTB had been previously designated for sanctions by the US. Su was also separately designated by the United Nations. Su and Won should have been expelled from Russia under rules prescribed by the UN. Instead, Russia’s Agrosoyuz continued to provide services to Su in violation of UN sanctions, opening multiple bank accounts for at least three FTB front companies, according to the US government. The two front companies also designated under the latest batch of sanctions by the US government include: Dandong Zhongsheng Industry & Trade Co. Ltd and Korea Ungum Corporation. The sanctions come a day after President Donald Trump tweeted his thanks to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un Thursday, after the possible remains of American war dead killed in the Korean War arrived back on US soil. “Thank you to Chairman Kim Jong Un for keeping your word & starting the process of sending home the remains of our great and beloved missing fallen! I am not at all surprised that you took this kind action. Also, thank you for your nice letter - l look forward to seeing you soon!” Trump tweeted in the early hours of Thursday morning. On Wednesday 55 cases of what are believed to be the remains of Americans who were killed or captured during the Korean War were transported to a military base in Hawaii, after they were handed over to US officials who had traveled to North Korea last week. CNN’s Jamie Tarabay contributed reporting<doc-sep>WASHINGTON—The U.S. Treasury Department on Friday imposed sanctions on Russia’s Agrosoyuz Commercial Bank, saying it handled transactions for North Korea in violation of United Nations bans. The move advances the Trump administration’s “maximum pressure” campaign to press Pyongyang to eliminate its nuclear-weapons program, after a roughly five-month pause in Treasury designations against North Korea and its facilitators. President Trump, amid negotiations with Kim Jong Un’s regime to rid the country of its weapons of mass destruction, said in late May he would hold off implementing new sanctions while talks were continuing. “I’m not going to put them on until such time as the talks break down,” the president said after a meeting with a top North Korean official. Those negotiations are ongoing, with senior U.S. officials expressing optimism in recent weeks despite evidence Pyongyang is expanding its nuclear and missile assets. The punitive action—the first time Washington has targeted a Russian bank under its North Korean sanctions policy—also sends a message to Moscow, which the U.S. accuses of not doing enough to stamp out North Korea’s illicit-weapons operations. “The United States will continue to enforce U.N. and U.S. sanctions and shut down illicit revenue streams to North Korea,” said Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. “Our sanctions will remain in place until we have achieved the final, fully verified denuclearization of North Korea.” Related Video The Trump administration is calling out Russia and China for easing economic sanctions on North Korea. The WSJ's Gerald F. Seib explains how that action and others could impact nuclear negotiations. Photo: Getty The Treasury Department said the bank knowingly conducted millions of dollars worth of transactions with a banned North Korean financial agent. Agrosoyuz Commercial Bank opened multiple bank accounts for Han Jang Su, the 48-year-old chief representative of the banned North Korean institution, Foreign Trade Bank, Treasury said. FTB is responsible for handling the country’s foreign currency, a critical hub for North Korea’s financial system. Mr. Han, who is already blacklisted by the U.S., is one of several dozen North Korean financial agents publicly listed in recent U.N. reports whom member countries are obligated to expel under international sanctions. Agrosoyuz has a long history with North Korea, Treasury said: Over the past decade, it has handled nearly $20 million in transactions, including almost $2.5 million for a North Korean front company early this year. The Treasury Department also sanctioned Ri Jong Won, another Moscow-based representative of FTB, saying he held Russian bank accounts in his name until at least 2016. Messrs. Ri and Han couldn’t immediately be reached for comment. Agrosoyuz, which has branches in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Russia’s agricultural hub, Orenburg, is a tiny Russian bank with assets of $180 million. An Agrosoyuz representative declined to comment. Neither Russia’s foreign ministry nor Moscow’s embassy in Washington immediately responded to requests for comment. The administration has come close to imposing these sanctions numerous times in recent weeks, according to people familiar with the matter, but always opted to hold off as directives from Mr. Trump urged against any actions that might derail his delicate talks with the North Koreans. But in recent months, the U.S. and U.N. officials have disclosed mounting evidence of widespread North Korean sanctions evasion in Russia, including the use of Russian ports for illicit oil shipments. Friday’s action comes a day after The Wall Street Journal reported Russia is allowing thousands of North Korean laborers into the country in what U.S. officials say may be violations of other U.N. sanctions. “Credible reports of Russia violating U.N. Security Council resolutions on North Korean laborers working abroad are deeply troubling,” said Nikki Haley, the U.S. envoy to the U.N. “Until we see the final, fully verified denuclearization of North Korea there can be no easing of sanctions,” she said. “Talk is cheap—Russia cannot support sanctions with their words in the Security Council only to violate them with their actions.” Early Friday, Mr. Mnuchin, the Treasury secretary, gave the go-ahead that the sanctions were to finally be rolled out. Under U.N. Security Council resolutions that Russia, as a member of the council, agreed to implement, Moscow should have expelled Mr. Han early last year when the U.S. identified him as a North Korean financial agent, the Treasury Department said. But U.S. and U.N. officials complain that the Kremlin is allowing Mr. Han and other North Korean financial agents to continue to operate in the country. It is a strategy that U.S. officials say is intentionally designed to undermine Washington’s policy on North Korea and fuel tensions between the two powers that are already at Cold War levels. Treasury’s sanctions leverage the heft of the world’s most important financial market and currency. Access to U.S. dollars and lending is critical to the global economy with most of the world’s trade transacted in the greenback and the global financial system wired into its banks and credit institutions. “No U.S. bank will willingly do any transactions that involve the Agrosoyuz, whether directly or indirectly,” said Carlton Greene, a senior veteran of Treasury’s sanctions shop, now a partner at Crowell & Moring in its international trade and white-collar practices. Agrosoyuz can’t tap U.S. markets for cash, even through intermediaries, because other banks will shy away from interacting with a blacklisted bank for fear of losing their own access to U.S. markets if the U.S. Treasury Department finds out. That not only complicates the bank’s ability to raise funds, but also its clients could find it very difficult to pay foreign customers, suppliers or investors. —Vivian Salama and Anatoly Kurmanaev contributed to this article. Write to Ian Talley at ian.talley@wsj.com<doc-sep>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 US 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. Mike Pompeo, U.S. secretary of state Credit:Bloomberg 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 US 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.<doc-sep>What is the future of Europe? Get local insights from Lisbon to Moscow with an unrivalled network of journalists across Europe, expert analysis, our dedicated ‘Brussels Briefing’ newsletter. Customise your myFT page to track the countries of your choice.<doc-sep>
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. Slideshow ( 2 images ) 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.