US imposes new North Korea sanctions on 10 people and one entity

The United States imposed new sanctions on 10 individuals and one organisation linked to North Korea on 28 October, targeting a financial technology entity and people associated with it, Reuters reported.

A notice issued by the US Treasury Department identified the designated organisation as the First Financial and Technical Development Centre, according to the report.

Six of the individuals added to the sanctions list were associated with the organisation. Two others were Russian nationals, while the remaining individuals appeared to be North Korean.

The report did not specify the activities that prompted the designations or provide details of the allegations against each individual.

The measures come as US President Donald Trump continues to express interest in reopening diplomatic negotiations with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Pyongyang, however, has shown little interest in renewed negotiations aimed at restricting or dismantling its nuclear weapons programme.

Trump played down the prospect of meeting Kim in China during remarks earlier in October, despite repeatedly expressing an interest in renewed contact with the North Korean leader.

The two leaders held a series of unprecedented meetings during Trump's first presidency, beginning with a summit in Singapore in 2018.

They met again in Hanoi in February 2019, but the talks ended without an agreement over sanctions relief and the steps North Korea would take towards denuclearisation.

Trump and Kim subsequently met at the inter-Korean border in June 2019, although that encounter did not produce a lasting diplomatic breakthrough.

The negotiations ultimately stalled over disagreements concerning North Korea's nuclear arsenal and the conditions under which Washington would ease economic restrictions.

Trump has since referred to North Korea as a nuclear power on several occasions, even as his administration has continued to call for the country's denuclearisation.

North Korea possesses nuclear weapons but is not recognised as a nuclear-weapon state under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

The latest sanctions announcement did not establish whether the new designations would affect prospects for renewed negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang.