▲ This file photo, released by Reuters, shows a sign marking the U.S Treasury Department in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 6, 2018. (Yonhap)

(LEAD) US-N Korea sanctions

(LEAD) U.S. Treasury Dept. sanctions 2 individuals, 2 entities involved in N.K. IT worker scheme

(ATTN: CHANGES headline, lead; UPDATES throughout)

By Song Sang-ho

WASHINGTON, Aug. 27 (Yonhap) -- The U.S. Treasury Department on Wednesday issued sanctions on two individuals and two entities, including a North Korean citizen and trading firm, for their role in what it called a "fraudulent" North Korean information technology (IT) worker scheme.

The department's Office of Foreign Assets Control announced the sanctions, the latest in a series of actions that Washington has taken in recent months to stop Pyongyang's schemes under which it apparently uses its overseas IT workers as a source of hard currency to bankroll its weapons programs in breach of U.N. and U.S. sanctions.

The latest sanctions include those on Kim Ung-sun, a North Korean national, and Korea Sinjin Trading Corporation, a North Korean trading company.

"The North Korean regime continues to target American businesses through fraud schemes involving its overseas IT workers, who steal data and demand ransom," Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence John Hurley was quoted as saying in a press release.

"Under President Trump, Treasury is committed to protecting Americans from these schemes and holding the guilty accountable," he added.

The department pointed out that new sanctions are part of the United States' "whole-of-government" effort to counter Pyongyang's wide-ranging revenue generation schemes, in coordination with allies and partners.

As part of their collaboration, the Department of State, and the foreign ministries of South Korea and Japan have also issued a joint statement on the threats posed by the North's IT workers.

The sanctions announcement came just two days after U.S. President Donald Trump expressed his hope to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un this year, reinforcing speculation that he might seek to rekindle his personal diplomacy with Kim.

Trump and Kim held three in-person meetings during Trump's first term -- the first in Singapore in June 2018, the second in Hanoi in February 2019 and the third in the inter-Korean border village of Panmunjom in June 2019.

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