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3/19/2020

Remarks by Secretary Mnuchin on President Trump’s Executive Order on North Korea | U.S. Department of the Treasury

Remarks by Secretary Mnuchin on President Trump’s Executive
Order on North Korea
September 21, 2017

Delivered at United Nations General Assembly Press Briefing
Today, President Trump strengthened the U.S. government's ability to cut o funding to the
North Korean regime and its weapons development program. Despite multiple UN Security
Council Resolutions, North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un continues to threaten the world and his
neighbors with provocative nuclear and missile tests. President Trump's new Executive Order
significantly expands Treasury's authorities to target those who enable this regime's economic
activity wherever they are located.
For far too long, North Korea has evaded sanctions and used the international financial system
to facilitate funding for its weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs. No bank
– in any country – should be used to facilitate Kim Jong-un's destructive behavior.
This new Executive Order will authorize Treasury to impose a range of sanctions, such as
suspending U.S. correspondent account access to any foreign bank that knowingly conducts or
facilitates significant transactions tied to trade with North Korea or certain designated persons.
These sanctions will be forward looking, and applied to behavior that occurs following the date
of the Executive Order. Foreign financial institutions are now on notice that, going forward, they
can choose to do business with the United States or with North Korea, but not both.
This new Executive Order also enables Treasury to target anyone conducting significant trade in
goods, services, or technology with North Korea, and to ban them from interacting with the U.S.
financial system. It also allows us to block and freeze assets of actors supporting North Korea's
textiles, fishing, IT, and manufacturing industries.
We call on countries around the world to join us by cutting all trade and financial ties with North
Korea in order to achieve a denuclearized Korean peninsula. As President Trump stated in his
speech to the UN General Assembly, "It is time for all nations to work together to isolate the Kim
regime until it ceases its hostile behavior." We will continue to work with our allies and partners

https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sm0162

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3/19/2020

Remarks by Secretary Mnuchin on President Trump’s Executive Order on North Korea | U.S. Department of the Treasury

to stop North Korea from abusing the global financial system to further Kim Jong-un's reckless
ambitions.

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https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sm0162

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