US blacklists Turkish firm for trade with North Korea

The United States has blacklisted a Turkish company and two executives for allegedly attempting to bypass sanctions prohibiting sales of weapons and luxury goods to North Korea as Washington maintains pressure on Pyongyang to dismantle its missile and nuclear programs.

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement on Thursday that SIA Falcon International Group, which also has a branch in Latvia, and the individuals acting on its behalf "are blatantly attempting to flout longstanding UN sanctions" against Pyongyang.

"The United States is deeply committed to the final, fully verified denuclearization of North Korea, and will continue to enforce and implement sanctions until that time,” said the statement.

The Treasury said that earlier this year, SIA Falcon CEO Huseyin Sahin and its general manager Erhan Culha hosted in Turkey a diplomat from North Korea's embassy in Mongolia to negotiate trade deals involving weapons and luxury goods.

SIA Falcon officials are now barred from doing business with Americans and holding property or having interests in property in the US.

The US Treasury also imposed sanctions on the North Korean diplomat, Ri Song Un, who serves as the economic and commercial counselor at North Korea's embassy in Mongolia.

According to the SIA Falcon website, the company's operations span defense, livestock, energy and food products. It described itself as "one of the biggest companies ... in the defense industry," saying it supplied armed services and security forces of more than 30 nations on five continents.

The administration of US President Donald Trump has imposed a barrage of economic restrictions on North Korea, and those who do business with it. The sanctions are still in place despite Pyongyang’s denuclearization efforts which came after a meeting between Trump and North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un in June.

PressTV-US’s Pompeo retracts remark on N Korea denuclearization

The US secretary of state reportedly retracts his earlier remark that North Korea has agreed to a goal of giving up its nuclear weapons by the end of US President Donald Trump’s current term in January 2021.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is set to visit Pyongyang on Sunday to discuss a second summit between Kim and Trump on the "denuclearization" of the Korean Peninsula that the two leaders agreed to in vague terms in June. 

North Korean authorities have complained about continued US and international sanctions on their country, calling those measures a “source of mistrust.”

The North has denounced what it has called "gangster-like behavior" by the US.

Pyongyang says Washington has betrayed the spirit of the June’s summit by making unilateral demands on the complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization, while putting the sanctions in place.

North Korea’s Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho said at the United Nations General Assembly last week that, “There is no way we will unilaterally disarm ourselves first.”

PressTV-North Korea will 'no way' disarm first without trust in US

North Korea says it will never abandon its nuclear program unilaterally without first building trust in the US.

The UN Security Council has unanimously imposed several rounds of tough sanctions on North Korea since 2006 in an attempt to choke off funding for Pyongyang’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

North Korea stresses that denuclearization will have to be phased, with each stage coming in return for reciprocal steps by the US, potentially including the removal of US forces from the South Korea and lifting rounds of sanctions one by one.

Pyongyang has firmly defended its military program as a deterrent against the hostile policies of the US and its regional allies, including South Korea and Japan.

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