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Treasury puts North Korean bank on blacklist

WASHINGTON
Fri Oct 23, 2009 4:55pm EDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury Department blacklisted a North Korean bank on Friday, saying it was involved in North Korea's arms dealing.

Barack Obama  |  North Korea

Treasury said in a statement that Amroggang Development Bank was being added to a list of proliferators of mass destruction because it was owned or controlled by North Korea's Tanchon Commercial Bank.

Tanchon was previously hit with sanctions by both the United States and the United Nations Security Council for its involvement in Pyongyang's proliferation activities.

Treasury said assets of Tanchon under U.S. jurisdiction are frozen and Americans are banned from any dealing with it. It said that Tanchon's president, Kim Tong Myong, also was being added to the list of weapons proliferators.

Treasury described Amroggang as a Tanchon-related company run by Tanchon officials. It said Tanchon helps finance Korea Mining Development Corp's sales of ballistic missiles and has been involved in Komid's ballistic missile transactions with an Iranian industrial group.

(Reporting by Glenn Somerville; Editing by Eric Walsh)



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