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House Approves Plan that Could Punish North Korea’s Foreign Bankers
By Kira Zalan
printThe U.S. House of Representatives passed a measure in a voice vote that would require American officials to determine whether to punish foreign banks that maintain ties with North Korea. The bill, which does not have a Senate companion measure, would instruct the Treasury Secretary to say whether the Asian nation is a "primary money laundering concern" as defined by the U.S. Patriot Act. Such a designation would require American banks to end their correspondent services for any foreign counterpart serving North Korea. American officials could reverse sanctions and release frozen assets if North Korea takes "significant steps toward disarmament...
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The U.S. Senate on Wednesday unanimously approved legislation that would require the White House to determine whether North Korea should be blacklisted under the Patriot Act.
The House Committee on Foreign Affairs Friday advanced a measure that would bar foreign banks linked to North Korean weapons proliferation and financial crime from holding U.S. correspondent accounts.
The Obama administration is working to cut off North Korea's remaining access points to the global financial system, including through China, a U.S. Treasury Department official told lawmakers Tuesday.
In a response to cyber-attacks on Sony Pictures Entertainment, President Obama signed an executive order Friday authorizing new sanctions against North Korea.
Although American financial institutions and the North Korean government rarely cross paths, U.S. officials have numerous avenues to sanction the Asian country for its latest nuclear weapons test, say attorneys.
The U.S. Treasury Department's sanctions arm blacklisted Korea Daesong Bank Thursday for its alleged ties to a branch of the North Korean communist government.
The United States expanded economic sanctions measures against North Korea Monday, blacklisting 12 entities and individuals and issuing an executive order under which new prohibitions can be enacted.
New U.S. sanctions targeting North Korea, including a likely block on assets tied to the nation's top officials, will require the cooperation from Chinese monetary authorities to be effective, say analysts.
Bank of America has cut its ties to North Korea after the nation topped an intergovernmental blacklist of countries with poor anti-money laundering regimes, according to a bank compliance official.
The U.S. Treasury Department blacklisted a North Korean bank and the president of another financial institution Friday for allegedly helping the country's communist government develop its weapons programs.
The United Nations Security Council Friday unanimously approved strengthening trade and economic sanctions against North Korea, including the reinstitution of financial freezes passed but not acted on in 2006.