Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Overseas in Washington,
U.S. lawmakers, seeking to tighten financial sanctions against Pyongyang for its latest
nuclear test plan to submit a bill aimed at cutting the rogue state's financial ties with
the outside world.
Hwang Ji-hye reports. International sanctions can prevent North Korea from gaining access
to the international arms trade and blacklist specific companies.
But U.S. lawmakers say the restrictions have little impact on North Korea's weapons development.
They say unilateral sanctions are needed to target foreign banks that handle North Korean
funds.
Representative Ed Royce of California, who chairs the House panel, says he plans to introduce
legislation that would sever the North's ability to access hard currency such as the U.S. dollar
and the British pound.
This measure, if put into effect, would be similar to the U.S. Treasury Department's
actions in 2005 on Banco Delta Asia, an obscure, family-owned bank in the Chinese gambling
enclave of Macao.
The penalty made it increasingly difficult for North Korea to process international financial
transactions.
Late last week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution punishing North Korea
for its latest nuclear test -- a largely symbolic move to remind the international society of
its concerns about Pyongyang's continued provocations.
The resolution, passed by a vote of 412-to-2, urges the U.S. government to work with other
countries on imposing additional sanctions on North Korea.
It also calls on China to pressure Pyongyang into suspending its nuclear and missile programs.
Hwang Ji-hye, Arirang News.