Trump targets North Korean banks, workers in new sanctions

The Trump administration on Tuesday imposed fresh sanctions on North Korea, as tensions between Washington and Pyongyang continue to escalate.

The penalties take aim at eight North Korean banks, as well as 26 North Korean nationals operating out of China, Russia, Libya and the United Arab Emirates.

“This further advances our strategy to fully isolate North Korea in order to achieve our broader objectives of a peaceful and denuclearized Korean peninsula,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement. “This action is also consistent with UN Security Council Resolutions.”

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The new sanctions come a day after North Korea’s foreign minister said a tweet by President Trump saying that the North “won’t be around much longer” amounted to a declaration of war and threatened to shoot down U.S. aircraft outside of North Korean airspace.

The White House has rejected the notion that the U.S. has declared war on North Korea, calling the claim “absurd.”

The latest round of sanctions come after Trump signed an executive order last week imposing sanctions on North Korea amid a series of meetings at the United Nations in New York aimed at pressuring Pyongyang to curb its nuclear ambitions.