U.S. to Impose Sanctions on N.Korea in 2 Weeks

The U.S. State Department on Wednesday said it will impose a package of sanctions on North Korea in two weeks to cut the regime's purse strings and stem what it calls "proliferation of weapons of mass destruction."

State Department spokesman Philip Crowley told reporters, "Much of what we've done up to this point has centered on proliferation activities that stem from specific authorities. We're moving into strengthening our national steps to attack the illicit activities that help to fund the weapons programs that are of specific concern to us."

"There'll be additional State and Treasury designations of entities and individuals supporting proliferation, subjecting them to an asset freeze; new efforts with key governments to stop [North Korea] trading companies engaged in illicit activities from operating in those countries and prevent their banks from facilitating these... transactions; expanding cooperation to prevent the travel of individuals designated under the [UN] Security Council resolutions, as well as other key North Korea proliferators; greater emphasis on North Korea's repeated abuse of its diplomatic privileges in order to engage in activities banned by the Security Council; and finally [greater] cooperation with countries so that they will not choose to purchase banned items from North Korea or to sell North Korea proliferation-related goods," Crowley said.

He pledged to give more information about how this will be done in the coming weeks. He stressed that the sanctions "are not directed at the people of North Korea who have suffered too long; they are directed at [the regime's] destabilizing, illicit, and provocative actions."