WASHINGTON (REUTERS) - US President Donald Trump on Friday (March 22) said he was ordering the withdrawal of recently announced North Korea-related sanctions imposed by the US Treasury Department.

"It was announced today by the US Treasury that additional large-scale Sanctions would be added to those already existing Sanctions on North Korea," Trump said on Twitter.

"I have today ordered the withdrawal of those additional Sanctions!"

It was not immediately clear what sanctions Trump was referring to. There were no new US sanctions on North Korea announced on Friday but on Thursday the United States blacklisted two Chinese shipping companies that it said helped North Korea evade sanctions over its nuclear weapons programme.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders did not specify which sanctions Trump spoke of but said: "President Trump likes Chairman Kim (Jong Un) and he doesn't think these sanctions will be necessary."

The sanctions on the Chinese shippers were the first since the second US-North Korea summit broke down last month. Hours after the sanctions announcement, North Korea on Friday pulled out of a liaison office with the South, a major setback for Seoul.

North Korea said it was quitting the joint liaison office set up in September in the border city of Kaesong after a historic summit between leader Kim Jong Un and South Korea's President Moon Jae-in early last year. </s> Alwaght- The US has imposed sanctions on two firms, one in Russia and one in China, “for supporting” North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs.

The new sanctions come despite an agreement reached between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il in Singapore in June.

The new sanctions target Russian-based Volasys Silver Star and China-based Yanbian Silverstar Network Technology Co, the US Treasury Department said on its website. A North Korean national, Song Hwa-jong, was also sanctioned. The US imposed sanctions this summer on two Russian shipping companies and six vessels, on a Russian port service agency as well as Chinese companies. Russia has said the US had acted without evidence on the basis of groundless accusations.

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin warned companies across the globe “to take precautions to ensure that they are not unwittingly employing North Korean workers for technology projects.”

Ending a period of animosity over North Korea’s nuclear and missile development, Trump made history by meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Singapore in June. But the meeting only produced a vague statement on a nuclear-free peninsula without describing how and when it would occur.

Thursday's sanctions announcement is the latest sign the US is moving to increase pressure on Pyongyang to end its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

North Korea previously said the US is returning back to old methods from previous administrations. Pyongyang has warned that its “unwavering determination to denuclearize” could be shaken, if the US continued denuclearization demands without first “creating the objective environment” for peace. </s> The United Nations Security Council passed new sanctions against North Korea but refrained from imposing the harshest options the White House proposed following a month of antagonistic military action by the regime of Kim Jong Un.

The unanimous decision to impose the new penalties follows North Korea’s recent nuclear test earlier this month ― its sixth and by far most powerful ― as well as a provocative test launch of a ballistic missile over Japan. The sanctions include capping imports of crude oil into North Korea, banning the sale of natural gas to the country and prohibiting the sale of North Korean textiles, the country’s second-biggest export, according to Reuters.

However, the penalties fall far short of those called for by the administration of President Donald Trump, which had requested a full cutoff of all oil supplies to Pyongyang, most of which are imported from China. The New York Times reports those demands were watered down following talks with Russia and China, permanent members of the Security Council that hold veto power. </s> UNITED NATIONS/WASHINGTON, Sept 23 (Reuters) - North Korea said on Saturday firing its rockets at the U.S. mainland was "inevitable" after U.S. President Donald Trump called Pyongyang's leader "rocket man", in a further escalation of rhetoric between the two countries over the North's nuclear weapons and ballistic missile program.

North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho's remarks before the United Nations General Assembly came hours after U.S. Air Force B-1B Lancer bombers escorted by fighter jets flew in international airspace over waters east of North Korea in a show of force the Pentagon said demonstrated the range of military options available to Trump.

Ri's speech capped a week of escalating rhetoric between Washington and Pyongyang, with Trump and Kim Jong Un trading insults. Trump called the North Korean leader a "madman" on Friday, a day after Kim dubbed him a "mentally deranged U.S. dotard."

On Saturday, the mudslinging continued with Ri calling Trump "a mentally deranged person full of megalomania and complacency" who is trying to turn the United Nations into a "gangsters' nest". Ri retorted that Trump himself was on a "suicide mission" after the U.S. president said Kim was on such a mission.

"'President Evil' is holding the seat of the U.S. President," Ri said, warning that Pyongyang was ready to defend itself if the United States showed any sign of conducting a "decapitating operation on our headquarters or military attack against our country".

"Now we are finally only a few steps away from the final gate of completion of the state nuclear force," Ri told the annual gathering of world leaders.

He said sanctions would have no effect on Pyongyang's resolve to develop its nuclear weapons, with the ultimate goal being "balance of power with the U.S."

Trump announced new U.S. sanctions on Thursday that he said allow targeting of companies and institutions that finance and facilitate trade with North Korea.

Earlier this month the U.N. Security Council unanimously adopted its ninth round of sanctions on Pyongyang to counter its nuclear and ballistic missiles programs.

The U.S. bombers' flight was the farthest north of the demilitarized zone separating North and South Korea that any U.S. fighter jet or bomber has flown in the 21st century, the Pentagon said.

"This mission is a demonstration of U.S. resolve and a clear message that the President has many military options to defeat any threat," said Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White.

"We are prepared to use the full range of military capabilities to defend the U.S. homeland and our allies."

North Korea has launched dozens of missiles this year, several flying over Japan, as it accelerates its program aimed at enabling it to target the United States with a nuclear-tipped missile.

Pyongyang conducted its sixth and largest nuclear test on Sept. 3 and has threatened to test a hydrogen bomb over the Pacific.

The Pentagon said the B-1B bombers came from Guam and the U.S. Air Force F-15C Eagle fighter escorts came from Okinawa, Japan. It said the operation showed the seriousness with which it took North Korea's "reckless behavior."

The patrols came after officials and experts said a small earthquake near North Korea's nuclear test site on Saturday was probably not man-made, easing fears Pyongyang had exploded another nuclear bomb just weeks after its last one.

China's Earthquake Administration said the quake was not a nuclear explosion and had the characteristics of a natural tremor.

The CTBTO, or Comprehensive Test-Ban Treaty Organization, which monitors nuclear tests, and officials of the South Korean meteorological agency also said they believed it was a natural quake.

The earthquake, which South Korea's Meteorological Agency put at magnitude 3.0, was detected 49 km from Kilju in North Hamgyong Province, where North Korea's known Punggye-ri nuclear site is located, the official said.

All of North Korea's six nuclear tests registered as earthquakes of magnitude 4.3 or above. The last test registered as a 6.3 magnitude quake.

Tensions have continued to rise around the Korean Peninsula since Pyongyang carried out its sixth nuclear test, prompting a new round of U.N. sanctions.

Trump told the United Nations on Tuesday the United States would "totally destroy" North Korea if it threatened the United States or its allies.

North Korea's nuclear tests to date have all been underground, and experts say an atmospheric test, which would be the first since one by China in 1980, would be proof of the success of its weapons program.

The United States and South Korea are technically still at war with North Korea because the 1950-53 Korean conflict ended with a truce and not a peace treaty.

The North accuses the United States, which has 28,500 troops in South Korea, of planning to invade and regularly threatens to destroy it and its Asian allies. </s> WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump on Friday abruptly announced the cancellation of sanctions imposed by his own Treasury Department to tighten international pressure on North Korea.

“It was announced today by the US Treasury that additional large scale Sanctions would be added to those already existing Sanctions on North Korea. I have today ordered the withdrawal of those additional Sanctions!” Trump said in a tweet.

He appeared to be referring to measures unveiled Thursday that targeted two Chinese companies accused of helping North Korea to evade tight international sanctions meant to pressure Pyongyang into ending its nuclear weapons program.

Get The Times of Israel's Daily Edition by email and never miss our top stories Free Sign Up

They were the first new sign of pressure since talks between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un broke down in Hanoi less than a month ago. However, Trump, who has previously spoken of “love” for the totalitarian leader, appears to retain hope that his strong personal relationship will bear fruit.

“President Trump likes Chairman Kim and he doesn’t think these sanctions will be necessary,” the president’s spokeswoman, Sarah Sanders, said.

Adam Schiff, a Democrat who heads the intelligence committee in the House of Representatives, blasted Trump for cancelling sanctions “imposed only yesterday and championed by his own national security adviser, because he ‘loves’ Kim.”

“Foolish naivete is dangerous enough. Gross incompetence and disarray in the White House make it even worse,” Schiff tweeted.

On Thursday, Trump national security adviser John Bolton had tweeted that the sanctions were meant to put an end to “illicit shipping practices” by North Korea.

“Everyone should take notice and review their own activities to ensure they are not involved in North Korea’s sanctions evasion,” he said.

China complained, saying that it did enforce all UN resolutions and opposed “any country imposing unilateral sanctions and taking long-arm jurisdiction against any Chinese entity according to their own domestic laws.”

This was Trump’s second major, unexpected foreign policy announcement by Twitter in two days. On Thursday, he sent a tweet reversing decades of US policy and pledged to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the hotly contested Golan Heights border area with Syria. </s> The President reportedly lifted the sanctions because he "likes" Kim Jong Un, according to White House staff

President Trump has decided to lift new sanctions imposed on North Korea by the Treasury Department just one day ago.

“It was announced today by the U.S. Treasury that additional large scale Sanctions would be added to those already existing Sanctions on North Korea. I have today ordered the withdrawal of those additional Sanctions!” Trump declared in a message over Twitter.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders explained the surprising about-face by the President by saying that “President Trump likes Chairman Kim [Jong Un] and he doesn’t think these sanctions will be necessary,” per CNBC.

The sanctions Trump is referring to involve two Chinese shipping companies which the Treasury Department designated yesterday as attempting to circumvent US and international sanctions on North Korea. The President appeared to confuse the date of the new actions against the shipping companies, which occurred Thursday rather than Friday as he stated in his tweet.

These new sanctions are the first the Treasury Department has imposed on North Korea since the end of last year. The President’s reversal also comes just over a month after his Hanoi summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un fell through without any deal for denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula.

When announcing the original punishment for the shipping companies in violation of existing sanctions, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin issued a statement describing the implementation of the sanctions as “crucial” to North Korean denuclearization:

“The United States and our like-minded partners remain committed to achieving the final, fully verified denuclearization of North Korea and believe that the full implementation of North Korea-related U.N. Security Council resolutions is crucial to a successful outcome,” he said per The New York Times.

White House National Security Advisor John Bolton had also noted over Twitter after the sanctions were first announced that “everyone should take notice and review their own activities to ensure that they are not involved in North Korea’s sanctions evasion.”

The confusing move by Trump to undo his administration’s work seemingly on a whim is only the latest in a long line of odd policy decisions out of the White House. John E. Smith, the former director of the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, was scathing in his critique of the news:

“For an administration that continues to surprise, this is another first — the president of the United States undercutting his own sanctions agency for imposing sanctions on Chinese actors supporting North Korea,” he said. “It’s a win for North Korea and China and a loss for U.S. credibility.” </s> President Donald Trump added economic action to his fiery military threats against North Korea on Thursday, authorizing stiffer new sanctions in response to the Koreans' nuclear weapons advances. Its leader Kim Jong Un issued a rare statement, branding Trump as "deranged" and warning he will "pay dearly" for his threat to "totally destroy" the North if it attacks.

The exchange of super-heated rhetoric and unusually personal abuse between the adversaries will escalate tensions that have been mounting as North Korea has marched closer to achieving a nuclear-tipped missile that could strike America. The crisis has dominated the Trump's debut at this week's annual U.N. General Assembly meeting.

Kim's statement, carried by North Korea's official news agency in a dispatch from Pyongyang early Friday, responded to Trump's combative speech days earlier where he not only issued the warning of potential obliteration for the isolated nation, but also mocked the North's young autocrat as a "Rocket Man" on a "suicide mission."

Kim offered choice insults of his own.

He said Trump was "unfit to hold the prerogative of supreme command of a country." He described the president as "a rogue and a gangster fond of playing with fire." He characterized Trump's speech to the world body on Tuesday as "mentally deranged behavior."

"I will make the man holding the prerogative of the supreme command in the U.S. pay dearly for his speech calling for totally destroying the DPRK," said the statement carried by Korean Central News Agency.

DPRK is the abbreviation of the communist country's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

There was no immediate response from the White House.

On Thursday in New York, Trump announced the latest steps to punish foreign companies that deal with the North. It was the latest salvo in a U.S.-led campaign to isolate and impoverish Kim's government until it halts the missile and nuclear tests. He announced the measures as he met leaders from South Korea and Japan, the nations most immediately imperiled by North Korea's threats of a military strike.

"North Korea's nuclear weapons and missile development is a grave threat to peace and security in our world and it is unacceptable that others financially support this criminal, rogue regime," Trump said as he joined Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and South Korean President Moon Jae-in for lunch. "Tolerance for this disgraceful practice must end now."

His executive order expanded the Treasury Department's ability to target anyone conducting significant trade in goods, services or technology with North Korea, and to ban them from interacting with the U.S. financial system.

"Foreign financial institutions must choose between doing business with the United States or facilitating trade with North Korea or its designated supporters," the order says. It also issues a 180-day ban on vessels and aircraft that have visited North Korea from visiting the United States.

Trump also said China was imposing major banking sanctions, too, but there was no immediate confirmation from the North's most important trading partner. China's central bank would not take questions by phone Friday and did not immediately respond to a faxed request for comment.

Trump praised China for instructing its banks to cut off business with Pyongyang, but neither the Chinese nor Trump officials were ready to say so. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said he had spoken at length Thursday with the head of China's central bank but "I am not going to comment on confidential discussions."

If enforced, the Chinese action Trump described could severely impede the isolated North's ability to raise money for its missile and nuclear development. China, responsible for about 90 percent of North Korea's trade, serves as the country's conduit to the international banking system.

Trump said the China action he described "was a somewhat unexpected move and we appreciate it."

China remains leery of pressuring North Korea into collapse and has resisted cutting off its critical oil supplies, not wanting chaos on its border. Along with Russia, China wants the U.S. to seek dialogue with the North. American officials say the time isn't right for any formal diplomatic process. Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Thursday that negotiations are the "only way out" of the nuclear standoff.

Several news outlets this month have reported Chinese steps to restrict banking transactions, but the government hasn't made a formal announcement. Asked for comment last week, the Foreign Ministry said China has always fully implemented U.N. sanctions on North Korea but opposes "unilateral" restrictions imposed by another country on Chinese entities. China's embassy in Washington declined to comment Thursday.

The focus on economic measures by Washington had at least temporarily shifted focus from the talk of military action that has caused unease, even among U.S. allies. In his speech to the U.N. on Tuesday, Trump spoke of his own nation's patience, but said that if "forced to defend itself or its allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea."

Trump's messengers backed him up in television appearances Thursday. Vice President Mike Pence told Fox News: "We do not desire a military conflict. But the president has made it very clear, as he did at the U.N. this week, that all options are on the table and we are simply not going to tolerate a rogue regime in Pyongyang obtaining usable nuclear weapons that could be mounted on a ballistic missile and threaten the people of the United States or our allies."

Trump's heated language was rare for a U.S. president at the rostrum of the United Nations. But the speech was textbook Trump, dividing the globe into friends and foes and taking unflinching aim at America's enemies.

Associated Press writer Darlene Superville contributed to this report.

Follow Lemire on Twitter at http://twitter.com/@mattpenn_99 and Lemire at http://twitter.com/@JonLemire </s> Image copyright Reuters Image caption Donald Trump was speaking ahead of a meeting with South Korea's Moon Jae-in (L)

US President Donald Trump has signed a new order that boosts sanctions against North Korea over its nuclear weapons programme.

The US treasury has been authorised to target firms and financial institutions conducting business with the North.

The president also said China's Central Bank had instructed other Chinese banks to stop doing business with Pyongyang.

It comes less than two weeks after the UN approved new sanctions against the country over its latest nuclear test.

Tensions have risen in recent weeks over the North's continued nuclear and ballistic missile tests, despite pressure from world powers to stop.

Announcing a new executive order on Thursday, President Trump said the measures were designed to "cut off sources of revenue that fund North Korea's efforts to develop the deadliest weapons known to humankind".

He singled out the North's textiles, fishing, information technology and manufacturing industries.

"For much too long North Korea has been allowed to abuse the international financial system to facilitate funding for its nuclear weapons and missile programs," he said.

He stressed that the sanctions were targeting "only one country, and that country is North Korea".

His treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin, later told reporters: "Foreign financial institutions are now on notice that going forward they can choose to do business with the United States or with North Korea, but not both."

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Donald Trump hopes sanctions will impact Pyongyang's nuclear weapons programme

The US president had on Tuesday vowed to "totally destroy" the North if forced to defend itself or its allies, in his first address as US president to the UN General Assembly.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un vowed to make Mr Trump "pay dearly" for his speech.

In a statement on Friday, he branded Mr Trump "mentally deranged" and said the US president's remarks "have convinced me, rather than frightening or stopping me, that the path I chose is correct and that it is the one I have to follow to the last".

Taking an indirect swipe at the US, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned the UN that "military hysteria" over the North's nuclear testing would lead to "disaster".

China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi told Pyongyang not to go in a "dangerous direction", and told the UN General Assembly on Thursday that there should be no new nuclear weapons on the Korean peninsula "whether it is in the north or the south".

Meanwhile, South Korea's president, Moon Jae-in, met Mr Trump on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly - an annual event, bringing together leaders of the UN's 193 member states.

Earlier, Mr Moon said his country did not want the North to collapse, nor does it want an enforced reunification of the peninsula.

But he said sanctions were necessary to bring Pyongyang to the negotiating table and force it to give up its nuclear weapons programme.

The latest UN sanctions - which came after the North's nuclear test on 3 September - restrict oil imports and ban textile exports, in an attempt to starve it of fuel and income for its weapons programmes.

It is the ninth round of UN sanctions to hit North Korea since 2006.

Image copyright AFP Image caption The US president is ramping up his threats against North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (far right)

The US has been imposing sanctions on North Korea since 2008, freezing the assets of individuals and companies linked to its nuclear programme, as well as banning the exports of goods and services to the country.

In his comments on Thursday, President Trump praised China, one of North Korea's closest trading partners, saying: "Their central bank has told their other banks, that's a massive banking system, to immediately stop doing business with North Korea."

However, a spokesman for China's foreign ministry, Lu Kang, later said that Mr Trump's comments were inaccurate. "They do not accord with the facts," he said.

It is not clear if a misunderstanding has occurred in relation to China's banks being ordered to immediately cease doing business with Pyongyang or whether China's central bank has agreed to a gradual withdrawal from the market.

None of the latest sanctions are believed to include any ban on oil imports to North Korea, which China continues to resist.

Three days after the UN's punitive measures were approved, Pyongyang fired off a second ballistic missile over Japan - its furthest-reaching yet.

European Union officials have also revealed plans to impose fresh sanctions against the country, but a decision is unlikely to be taken until the middle of October.

Experts say North Korea has made surprisingly quick progress in its development of long-range missiles and nuclear weapons. </s> The Latest on the U.N. Security Council approving sanctions against North Korea. (all times local):

U.S. President Donald Trump is tweeting his support for tough new sanctions against North Korea unanimously approved by the U.N. Security Council.

"The United Nations Security Council just voted 15-0 to sanction North Korea. China and Russia voted with us. Very big financial impact!" he said on Twitter.

The sanctions against North Korea for its escalating nuclear and missile programs include a ban on coal and other exports worth over $1 billion — a huge bite in its total exports, valued at $3 billion last year.

U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley called the resolution "the single largest economic sanctions package ever leveled against the North Korean regime" and "the most stringent set of sanctions on any country in a generation."

But she warned that it is not enough and "we should not fool ourselves into thinking we have solved the problem — not even close."

"The threat of an outlaw nuclearized North Korean dictatorship remains ... (and) is rapidly growing more dangerous," Haley told council members after the vote.

The U.S.-drafted resolution, negotiated with North Korea's neighbor and ally China, is aimed at increasing economic pressure on Pyongyang to return to negotiations on its nuclear and missile programs — a point stressed by all 15 council members in speeches after the vote.

The Security Council has already imposed six rounds of sanctions that have failed to halt North Korea's drive to improve its ballistic missile and nuclear weapons capabilities.

The resolution's adoption follows North Korea's first successful tests of intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of reaching the United States on July 3 and July 27.
U.S. President Donald Trump announces new sanctions on North Korea over its nuclear weapons program.