The Treasury Department announced Thursday it is sanctioning a Chinese bank after finding the bank was helping to facilitate illicit North Korean financial activity, a move that seeks to ramp up the pressure on the Hermit Kingdom to end its missile program.
“The U.S. will not stand for such action,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told reporters during the White House press briefing Thursday when announcing the sanctions.
The Bank of Dandong, a small Chinese bank, is a “primary money-laundering concern” and “served as a gateway” for North Korea to access the U.S. financial systems, the Treasury Department said.
The bank was facilitating millions of dollars of transactions for companies involved in North Korea’s ballistic weapons program.
The Treasury secretary said the Trump administration will continue to look at the bank’s actions and potentially roll out additional sanctions.
The goal of the sanctions, he said, is to ensure North Korea does not have access to the U.S. financial system.
“We are committed to cutting off all illegal funds going to North Korea,” Mnuchin said.
