A senior United States Treasury official has visited South Korea amid Washington's announcement of enhanced sanctions against North Korea for its nuclear and missile programs, diplomatic sources said Thursday.
Sigal Mandelker, Treasury undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, came to South Korea on Wednesday for a two-day stay as part of her Northeast Asia trip, according to the sources.
Mandelker is to hold a meeting with a high-ranking foreign ministry official in Seoul on Thursday, where she is expected to explain the latest US action to impose additional unilateral sanctions on the North, sources said.
The US Treasury on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington DC (AFP)
On Wednesday (local time), the Treasury Department announced new sanctions on nine entities, including two Chinese firms, 16 North Korean individuals and six North Korean vessels for their links to the North's nuclear and missile programs.
The move came about a month after the US announced new sanctions on Pyongyang, the eighth of their kind under the Donald Trump administration.
Mandelker canceled a plan to hold a press meeting with a small group of reporters on Thursday. The US Embassy has not offered an explanation for the abrupt cancellation.
Her trip came amid cautious expectations that the peaceful mood being created by the North's planned participation in the upcoming PyeongChang Winter Olympics could turn into a chance for the North and the US to sit down for talks on the current nuclear stalemate. (Yonhap)
