US indicts N Koreans, accuses state-owned bank of evading sanctions

The United States has accused a North Korean bank of breaking US sanctions laws and indicted two dozen North Korean and Chinese individuals over charges of money laundering, bank fraud and other crimes.

On Thursday, the Justice Department charged 28 North Korean and 5 Chinese citizens with operating an illegal global financial network to aid Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons and missile program in violation of US sanctions.

In an unsealed 50-page indictment, US prosecutors accused North Korea’s Foreign Trade Bank of conspiring with the employees to cause other banks “to process at least $2.5 billion in illegal payments via over 250 front companies.”

“Through this indictment, the United States has signified its commitment to hampering North Korea’s ability to illegally access the US financial system, and to limiting its ability to use proceeds from these illicit actions to enhance its illegal weapons of mass destruction program,” Acting US Attorney Michael R. Sherwin of Washington, D.C., said in a statement.

North Korea has been under multiple rounds of harsh sanctions by the UN and the US over its nuclear and missile programs.

US President Donald Trump has attempted to de-escalate tensions with Pyongyang, and although he has met with its leader Kim Jong-un three times, he has so far refused to relieve any of the sanctions, and that has in turn hampered the so-called efforts to demilitarize the Korean Peninsula.

US, North Korea negotiators arive in Sweden for nuclear talks

US and North Korean officials have gathered in Sweden to resume nuclear negotiations as part of attempts to end months of deadlock.

The Washington-Pyongyang nuclear talks have made little progress since late last year, particularly after the global fight to curb the coronavirus pandemic.

On Sunday, Kim outlined his policies for further boosting his country’s nuclear “deterrence” capabilities amid stalled denuclearization talks.

His pledge to boost its nuclear capabilities comes at a time when Washington, according to some news reports, might conduct its first full-fledged nuclear test since 1992. 

US to conduct nuclear test ‘within months’ if Trump orders: Pentagon

A senior Pentagon official says the US could carry out a live nuclear test within “months” if President Donald Trump orders it.

Last December, Kim ended a moratorium on the country’s missile tests and said North Korea would soon develop a “new strategic weapon.”

The ending of the moratorium came as the United States refused to relieve any of the sanctions on the North even though Pyongyang had taken goodwill steps in the course of the now-stalled diplomacy with Washington.

The US on Thursday also accused China of helping the North with its nuclear program, saying in the indictment that branches of North Korean banks are still operating in Beijing and Shenyang, China.

“This adds to the already overwhelming evidence that China’s government is willfully assisting Kim Jong Un in his violations of North Korea sanctions,” said Joshua Stanton, a lawyer who helped write the 2016 law that strengthened the sanctions.

China says UN sanctions relief for North Korea ‘imperative,’ as deadline nears

China says it is “imperative” for the United Nations (UN) to ease sanctions on North Korea in order for demilitarization talks between the North and the US to resume.

China is North Korea’s sole major ally and has a keen interest in the stability of the country with which it shares a vast border.  

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