SEOUL, South Korea — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced new U.S. sanctions Wednesday against North Korea that are aimed at halting money-making schemes it uses to fund its nuclear program.
The U.S. will freeze assets of businesses and individuals associated with the North Korean regime and collaborate with banks to stop illegal financial transactions. The sanctions also will seek to stop the abuse of diplomatic privileges to carry out illegal activities.
North Korea already is under wide-ranging international sanctions because of its nuclear program. The U.S. eased some restrictions in 2008 after Pyongyang agreed to give inspectors access to its nuclear sites. That deal fell apart last year when the North announced that it was walking away from disarmament-for-aid talks.
“These measures are not directed at the people of North Korea, who have suffered too long due to the misguided priorities of their government,” Clinton said at a news conference. “They are directed at the destabilizing, illicit and provocative policies pursued by that government.”
Clinton, visiting South Korea with Defense Secretary Robert Gates four months after the deadly sinking of a South Korean warship, said that North Korea had the option of ending its isolation.
“North Korea can cease its provocative behavior, halt its threats and belligerence towards its neighbors, take irreversible steps to fulfill its denuclearization commitments and comply with international law,” Clinton said.
She added that resuming stalled nuclear talks “is not something we’re looking at yet.”
The North should first take responsibility for the sinking of the South Korean warship and agree to dismantle its nuclear programs, she said, “but to date, we have seen nothing” indicating change in Pyongyang’s stance.
An investigation led by South Korea concluded that the warship was sunk by a North Korean torpedo. North Korea has denied that.
The Clinton-Gates appearance was preceded by an announcement Tuesday of air and naval exercises by the U.S. and South Korea to start this week. A North Korean spokesman said the U.S. should halt sanctions and the military exercises if it wants a nuclear-free peninsula.
“If the U.S. is really interested in the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, it should halt the military exercises and sanctions that destroy the mood for dialogue,” North Korean spokesman Ri Tong-Il said today in Hanoi, Vietnam.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
