US Issues New Sanctions on N Korea Shortly After Unsuccessful Trump-Kim Talks

The US Treasury Department has imposed new North Korean sanctions, targeting two Chinese shipping companies in particular.

In addition to this, Washington has updated an advisory listing of 67 vessels believed to have helped Pyongyang allegedly evade the economic restrictions.

The decision made by Washington comes just weeks after the second meeting between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un failed to produce an agreement on Pyongyang's denuclearisation between the sides. While Kim wanted all non-military sanctions to be lifted, Washington refused to meet the demand, with Trump announcing his delegation made the decision to walk away of the meeting. According to the US side, North Korea vowed to denuclearise some of the areas of the country in return, with no official confirmation following.

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When addressing journalists following the talks in Vietnam, the US president stated that he, however, is "open to talking again" to the North Korean leader.

The long-awaited second meeting in Hanoi was accompanied by US media reports — strongly rejected by Trump — suggesting that North Korea has been conducting covert nuclear-related activity despite the agreements reached by Trump and Kim at their first historic summit in Singapore.

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The first Trump-Kim meeting resulted in an agreement stipulating that Pyongyang would make efforts to promote the complete denuclearisation of the peninsula in exchange for the United States and South Korea freezing their military drills, a demand repeatedly voiced by Pyongyang which considers the war games a threat to its security.

The summit was conducted following the exchange of harsh rhetoric between the heads of state in the wake of North Korea's last nuclear test that took place in September 2017 and its last missile launch carried out a month later.

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