US hits North Korea and Russia with new sanctions, Treasury says

WASHINGTON - The United States hit North Korea and Russia on Monday with new sanctions that the Treasury Department said targeted Pyongyang's financial activities and military support to Moscow.

The sanctions, which list North Korean banks, generals and other officials as well as Russian oil shipping companies, are the latest U.S. measure aimed at disrupting North Korea's support to Russia's war in Ukraine.

The North Korean banks targeted include Golden Triangle Bank and Korea Mandal Credit Bank, the Treasury Department said in a statement.

Pyongyang and Moscow have ramped up diplomatic and economic ties in recent years, culminating in Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to North Korea in June when the countries' leaders agreed a mutual defense pact.

Military cooperation between the two countries has been met by international alarm, with Washington, Kyiv and Seoul condemning North Korea for sending military equipment and more than 10,000 troops to Russia to support its war against Ukraine, which it invaded in February 2022.

North Korea's actions, including its most recent test of a long-range ballistic missile and its deepening military support to Russia, undermine the stability of the region and sustain Putin's war in Ukraine, said Bradley Smith, acting under secretary of the Treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence.

“The United States remains committed to disrupting the illicit procurement and facilitation networks that enable these destabilizing activities,” he said.

The officials sanctioned include North Korean generals who the department said were among the thousands of troops Pyongyang has deployed to Russia to aid its Ukraine war effort.

Ukraine said last week that Russia had begun using North Korean troops in significant numbers for the first time to conduct assaults on Ukrainian forces battling to hold an enclave in Russia's Kursk region.

Kyiv estimates there are 11,000 North Koreans in total, adding to a force of tens of thousands of Russians.

Russia has neither confirmed nor denied the presence of North Koreans on its side.

OIL AND GAS TO THE NORTH

The sanctions freeze the U.S. assets of the designated entities, ban their trade with Americans, and block them from transactions with the U.S. financial system.

The Treasury hit with sanctions Russia-based foreign trade companies that it said were shipping oil and gas to North Korea. The companies include Vostok Trading, DV Ink, and Novosibirskoblgaz. Treasury said they began shipping "thousands of tons of oil and gas" to North Korea beginning in 2022 and continuing through at least April 2024.

North Korea has likely received more than 1 million barrels of oil from Russia over an eight-month period this year in breach of U.N. sanctions, according to an analysis of satellite imagery published in November by the British-based Open Source Centre and the BBC.

North Korean oil tankers have made more than 40 visits to Russia's Far Eastern port of Vostochny since March, the report on the research group Open Source Centre's website said.

The sanctions also targeted Sibregiongaz, AO, the Russia-based parent company and 100% owner of Novosibirskoblgaz. They also hit Okryu Trading Company, or Okryu, a North Korea-based foreign trade company that Treasury said has received thousands of tons of oil shipments from Russia.

(Reporting by Doina Chiacu, Timothy Gardner and Rami Ayyub; Editing by Andrea Ricci)