Mnuchin, citing no evidence, said Friday that sanctions “are beginning to have a significant impact” on nuclear and missile programs.
President Trump did not rule out a nuclear attack against North Korea Friday, vowing to take it to “phase two” if the most recent round of sanctions prove ineffective.
Trump’s combative comments came hours after the White House enacted another set of sanctions against companies connected to the isolated Communist dictatorship.
“If the sanctions don’t work, we’ll have to go to phase two,” Trump said during a joint press conference with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. “Phase two may be a very rough thing, maybe very unfortunate for the world.”
“But hopefully the sanctions will work,” Trump added.
The disgusting media fawning over North Korea at the Olympics
Earlier Friday, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, citing no evidence, said that sanctions “are beginning to have a significant impact” on North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs.
Mnuchin announced that the Trump administration hit more than 50 vessels, shipping companies and trade businesses with sanctions meant to curb the rogue nation’s nuclear ambitions.
Trump declared in a speech Friday at the Conservative Political Action Conference that it was “the heaviest sanctions ever imposed on a country before.”
But the economic impact is unclear.
North Korea holds military parade ahead of the Olympics
The U. S. and the United Nations have repeatedly expanded sanctions over the past year as Pyongyang ramped up its missile and nuclear tests.
But North Korean ships have continued to export coal and make ship-to-ship transfers of imported oil and petroleum products in spite of prohibitions set by the U. N. sanctions.
The latest round hit nine international shipping companies from China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Panama, and nine of their vessels, barring them from doing business with the U. S.
It also blacklisted 16 North shipping companies and 19 of their North Korean-flagged vessels.
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“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,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement. If companies “choose to help fund North Korea’s nuclear ambitions, they will not do business with the United States.”
The announcement came as Ivanka Trump, the President’s daughter and adviser, arrived in South Korea to attend the closing ceremony of the Winter Olympics.
North Korea athletes joined with those from the South during the games in a sign of easing tensions.
At a dinner with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, Ivanka Trump reaffirmed “our commitment to our maximum pressure campaign to ensure that the Korean Peninsula is denuclearized.”
North Korea to stage military parade before Olympics: report
But her father has ratcheted up tensions during his presidency by engaging in a war of words with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
Mnuchin added that the Trump administration is eyeing sanctions on Russian economic interests as well in light of special counsel Robert Mueller’s indictment accusing 13 Russians in a conspiracy to undermine the U. S. presidential election.
“We are working on Russia sanctions,” Mnuchin said.
“We are closely working with the FBI and as appropriate we will look at sanctioning individuals from the information they had.”
