Washington: US President Donald Trump removed additional “large-scale” US Treasury sanctions on North Korea on Friday (local time). “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 tweeted.
This move is largely being viewed as Trump’s bid to keep denuclearisation talks with North Korea on track after the Hanoi summit ended abruptly last month without any agreement. The White House refused to comment on Trump’s move, according to CNN, but added that the President took the step because he “likes” North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
“President Trump likes Chairman Kim and he doesn’t think these sanctions will be necessary,” White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said, without revealing the exact sanctions which have been removed. While it is still unclear as to which sanctions were stopped, the US Treasury Department had recently targeted two Chinese shipping companies for helping Pyongyang skirt UN-imposed sanctions.
Despite the breakdown of the second USA-North Korea summit, Trump had maintained that the relationship with the elusive state continues to be “good”. Meanwhile, the process of denuclearisation has come to a halt in the Korean Peninsula, as North Korea’s demand to ease sanctions was turned down by the US in Hanoi.