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US to go for own sanctions on DPRK: report

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-06-05 15:14

SEOUL, South Korea -- The United States has told South Korea it will impose its own financial sanctions on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) apart from punishments that the U.N. has been mulling for Pyongyang's latest nuclear test, a news report said Friday.

The US sanctions call for blacklisting foreign financial institutions that help DPRK launder money and conduct other dubious deals, the South Korean Chosun Ilbo newspaper reported.

A DPRK boat patrols on the Yalu River near the town of Sinuiju, June 5, 2009. [Agencies]

US Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg briefed the South Korean president on the new sanctions at a meeting Thursday, the mass-market paper said, citing an unidentified official at the presidential office. The US Embassy in Seoul could not confirm the report.

Related readings:  Sanctions loom as Suu Kyi trial starts  DPRK military warns against sanctions for rocket launch  DPRK lashes out as Japan extends sanctions  China urges prudence over DPRK sanctions  US seeks China's support in stance against DPRK

Last week, Pyongyang conducted a barrage of missile launches and an underground nuclear test. DPRK also appeared to be preparing for more missile tests.

Steinberg was in Seoul from Tuesday through Thursday to coordinate a united response to Pyongyang's belligerence.

Seoul's Dong-a Ilbo newspaper had a report Thursday, saying Seoul and Washington have confirmed DPRK has kept producing high-quality fake US dollar bills, known as "supernotes," and that Washington could use the counterfeiting as justification for its own sanctions.

Steinberg told South Korean President Lee Myung-bak that DRPK would be mistaken if it thinks it can uses its old tactic of making provocations and then getting what it wants through talks, Seoul's presidential office said in a statement.

Complicating the situation, two American journalists were believed to be on trial in DPRK top court, on allegations they entered the country illegally and engaged in "hostile acts." The DPRK official news agency said the proceedings were to begin Thursday but no further details were available one day later.