Sanctions to hit nuke cash sources

Seoul: New US sanctions against North Korea will seek to strangle the narcotics trafficking, counterfeiting of US dollars and other "illicit and deceptive" activities that provide the regime with the hard currency used for its nuclear weapons programme, a senior US envoy said Monday.

Robert Einhorn, the State Department's special adviser for non-proliferation and arms control, made Seoul a first stop on his Asian tour to encourage allies to act aggressively to enforce sanctions against North Korea and Iran, nations he said constitute "two of the greatest threats" to nuclear non-proliferation and international security.

He met on Monday with South Korean officials to discuss the sanctions that Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced during her own trip to Seoul two weeks ago.

Specific new measures to be adopted by the US in the next few weeks will publicly name and block the assets of entities and individuals involved in the buying or selling of arms in violation of UN Security Council resolutions, illegal activities to bring in hard cash or trade to divert luxury goods to Pyongyang, Einhorn said.

"We know that these activities bring hundreds of millions of dollars in hard currency annually into North Korea, which can be used to support DPRK nuclear or military programmes or fund luxury goods purchases," Einhorn said at a Seoul news conference.

DPRK stands for North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

"These measures are not directed at the North Korean people," he said. "Instead, our objective is to put an end to the DPRK's destabilising proliferation activities, to halt illicit activities that help fund its nuclear and missile programs and to discourage further provocative actions."

He said Washington is concerned about a global network of trading firms involved in proliferation-related activities and said the US would urge other nations to pressure banks in their nations to freeze those companies' accounts.

The US has imposed similar sanctions on Pyongyang in the past. In 2005, Washington blacklisted the Banco Delta Asia, a bank in the Chinese territory of Macau accused of helping North Korea launder money and conduct other illicit activities.

Institutions concerned about their reputation and jeopardising their US connections stopped dealing with the bank after Washington's threat, effectively severing North Korea from the international financial system.

Einhorn said the nuclear programmes of North Korea and Iran threaten global peace and security, and said Washington wants to pressure them to meet their international obligations and give up their nuclear weapons.