(3rd LD) Trump announces 'heaviest ever' sanctions on N. Korea

(ATTN: UPDATES with more Trump remarks, expert's comments, details in paras 7, 15, 17-24)

WASHINGTON, Feb. 23 (Yonhap) -- U.S. President Donald Trump announced the "heaviest ever" sanctions on North Korea Friday, ratcheting up pressure on the regime to give up its nuclear weapons program despite a growing mood of reconciliation between the Koreas.

The sanctions target 27 shipping and trade companies, 28 vessels and one individual suspected of helping North Korea evade existing sanctions. They are located or registered in countries including North Korea, China, Singapore, Tanzania and Panama.

"We imposed today, the heaviest sanctions ever imposed on a country before," Trump said in a speech to conservative activists. "And frankly, hopefully, something positive can happen. We'll see, but hopefully something positive can happen."

The sanctions block the designated entities' property and interests within the U.S. or in U.S. nationals' control while also banning transactions between the sides. The Treasury Department said they are aimed at disrupting North Korean shipping and trading companies and vessels "to further isolate the regime and advance the U.S. maximum pressure campaign."

"The President has made it clear to companies worldwide that if they choose to help fund North Korea's nuclear ambitions, they will not do business with the United States," Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement.

"This will significantly hinder the Kim regime's capacity to conduct evasive maritime activities that facilitate illicit coal and fuel transports, and erode its abilities to ship goods through international waters," he said, referring to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

Mnuchin later told a press conference that the U.S. now has more than 450 sanctions imposed on the North. They cover "virtually all" the North Korean ships currently in use.

The U.S. has led a "maximum pressure" campaign to increase economic and diplomatic sanctions on Pyongyang until it agrees to discuss its denuclearization. North Korea insists its nuclear program is nonnegotiable.

Friday's sanctions signal a determination by the Trump administration to keep pressure on the regime despite warming ties between the two Koreas.

The ongoing Winter Olympics in PyeongChang have created an opening for reconciliation since North Korea agreed to send a delegation to the Games and Kim invited South Korean President Moon Jae-in to visit Pyongyang.

Seoul hopes to build on that momentum to enable denuclearization talks between Washington and Pyongyang. Tensions heightened last year as the North aggressively pursued its weapons capabilities with its sixth and most powerful nuclear test, as well as three tests of intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of reaching the U.S.

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence was set to meet with North Korean delegates to the opening ceremony of the PyeongChang Games earlier this month, but the North Koreans pulled out at the last minute, according to Washington. The intent was to drive home the need for North Korea to abandon its weapons programs.

The possibility of U.S.-North Korea contact arose again this week. Trump's daughter and adviser, Ivanka, arrived in South Korea Friday to lead the U.S. delegation to the Games' closing ceremony. And North Korea plans to dispatch a delegation headed by senior ruling party official Kim Yong-chol.

The White House has said the first daughter has no plans to meet North Korean officials.

During a dinner with Moon, Ivanka Trump said her visit in part reaffirms "our commitment to our maximum pressure campaign to ensure that the Korean Peninsula is denuclearized." A senior U.S. government official later said she delivered a personal message from her father to Moon about the sanctions that were to be announced.

Along with the sanctions, the Treasury also issued a global advisory on the sanctions risks of helping shipments to and from North Korea and the "deceptive" shipping practices it uses, including concealing information displayed on its vessels and conducting U.N.-banned ship-to-ship transfers.

If the sanctions don't achieve their aim, Trump warned there would be a "phase two."

"Phase two may be a very rough thing -- may be very, very unfortunate for the world," he said during a joint press conference with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull at the White House.

He did not elaborate, but added that he hopes the sanctions work.

"It really is a rogue nation," Trump said. "If they can make a deal, it will be a great thing. If we can't, something will have to happen. So we'll see."

The new actions are significant in part because they focus on shipping, which has long been a "gaping hole" in the U.S. sanctions regime, according to Jonathan Schanzer, senior vice president of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington.

"The only thing missing here today is action against Chinese banks," he said in emailed remarks to Yonhap. "We know they continue to undermine our efforts to isolate North Korea. I would not expect any large Chinese banks to be sanctioned, given our tenuous financial relationship with Beijing. But smaller banks are obvious targets. Until we take that step, (North Korea) will be able to operate rather freely in the formal financial sector."

Schanzer, a former Treasury official, also noted that the timing is "very interesting" given that the Olympics are still under way and Ivanka Trump is in South Korea.

"It certainly grants the administration a bit more leverage as messages are conveyed to the Kim regime," he said.

hague@yna.co.kr
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