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The United States on Friday targeted two Russian banks as part of new sanctions for alleged support for North Korea and its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
The sanctions come after what the U.S. says were three new ballistic missile launches by North Korea on Tuesday, including an intercontinental ballistic missile.
The launches came after President Joe Biden ended a trip to Asia in which he highlighted Washington’s commitment to defending its allies from the northern nuclear threat.
The U.S. says this week’s launches raised North Korea’s total for this year to 23 as the isolated country pressures to develop and expand the range of its nuclear and missile programs.
FILE – South Korean and U.S. missiles on display at the Korean War Memorial Museum in Seoul, South Korea, on Thursday, May 26, 2022.
The targets of Friday’s sanctions include two Russian banks, the Far East and Sputnik, which the U.S. says are doing business with US-sanctioned North Korean entities. Bank Sputnik also helped North Korea organize payments for the use of Russian satellite services, the Treasury Department said in announcing the sanctions.
The new sanctions also target a Belarusian-based North Korean man who, according to the United States, was helping to generate funding for missile launches and a commercial enterprise.
NORTH KOREA LAUNCHES 3 TEST MISSILES WHEN THEY LAUNCH
This photo distributed by the North Korean government shows what it says is a test of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) Hwasong-17 at an undisclosed location in North Korea on March 24. (Central Korea News Agency / Korea News Service via AP)
BIDEN, SOUTH KOREA, COORDINATES RESPONSE TO NORTH KOREA’S NUCLEAR THREAT
In this photo provided by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attends a meeting of the Korean Workers’ Party in Pyongyang, North Korea, on February 28, 2022. (Central Korea News Agency / Korea News Service via AP)
On Thursday, China and Russia vetoed a US-sponsored UN Security Council resolution that would have imposed new harsh sanctions on North Korea for its wave of intercontinental ballistic missile launches that could be used to deliver nuclear weapons .
Thursday’s vote marked the first serious split among the five permanent members with a veto by the most powerful UN body on a resolution on sanctions on North Korea.
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