Treasury, State Officials Discuss Sanctions With Japanese Counterparts

March 19, 2013

On March 19, 2013 the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence David Cohen and the U.S. Department of State's Coordinator for Sanctions Policy Ambassador Daniel Fried met with officials across the Japanese government.

In a series of productive meetings, Under Secretary Cohen and Ambassador Fried discussed UN Security Council Resolution 2094, which imposes robust sanctions against the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) in response to the DPRK's recent provocative nuclear and ballistic missile tests. In particular, they discussed the importance of harmonizing international efforts through robust implementation of UNSCR 2094 to prevent the DPRK from pursuing proliferation-related activities.

Under Secretary Cohen explained the recent U.S. designation of the Foreign Trade Bank (FTB) - the DPRK's primary foreign exchange bank. FTB has facilitated millions of dollars in transactions that have benefited Korea Mining Development Corporation (KOMID) - North Korea's premier arms dealer and its financial arm, Tanchon Commercial Bank (TCB)—both of which have been designated at the UN.

Under Secretary Cohen and Ambassador Fried also stressed the importance of the international community's continued efforts to implement sanctions against the Iranian regime for its ongoing proliferation activities.