U.S. issues tougher economic sanctions on North Korea

SEOUL, South Korea — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Wednesday announced new U.S. sanctions against North Korea that are aimed at halting moneymaking schemes it uses to fund its nuclear program.

The United States will freeze assets of businesses and individuals associated with the North Korean government and collaborate with banks to stop illegal financial transactions. The sanctions also will target luxury items purchased by the government's ruling elite and seek to stop the abuse of diplomatic privileges used to carry out illegal activities, Clinton said.

North Korea is already under wide-ranging international sanctions because of its nuclear program. The United States eased some restrictions in 2008 after the North agreed to allow inspectors access to its declared nuclear sites. That deal fell apart last year when the North said it was walking away from disarmament-for-aid talks.

"These measures are not directed at the people of North Korea, who have suffered too long due to the misguided priorities of their government," Clinton said at a news conference. "They are directed at the destabilizing, illicit and provocative policies pursued by that government."

Clinton, visiting South Korea with Defense Secretary Robert Gates four months after the deadly sinking of a South Korean warship, said North Korea had the option of ending its isolation.

"North Korea can cease its provocative behavior, halt its threats and belligerence toward its neighbors, take irreversible steps to fulfill its denuclearization commitments and comply with international law," Clinton said.

She added that resuming nuclear talks "is not something we're looking at yet." The North should first take responsibility for sinking the South Korean warship and agree to dismantle its nuclear programs, she said, "but to date, we have seen nothing" indicating change in the North's stance.

An investigation led by South Korea concluded the warship Cheonan was sunk by a North Korean torpedo. North Korea has denied that.

Earlier, Clinton and Gates pledged continuing U.S. support for defense of South Korea in a joint visit to the demilitarized zone (DMZ) in Panmunjom, 40 miles north of Seoul. The visit was organized to mark the 60th anniversary of the start of the Korean War.

Their brief tour of the spot where the Korean War fighting ended in an armistice in 1953 was the centerpiece of a visit meant to show resolve in the aftermath of the sinking of the Cheonan, in which 46 crew members died. Technically, North and South Korea remain at war.

Gates and Clinton stood on an observation tower under umbrellas and looked through binoculars into North Korea.

North Korean guards peered through the window while Gates and Clinton briefly toured the Military Armistice Commission Building, a low-slung plywood structure where semiregular meetings occur between the two sides.

Inside, the two Cabinet officials stepped into the North Korean half of the building, technically placing them in enemy territory.

It was Clinton's first visit to the DMZ and the third for Gates, but his first as defense secretary. Fewer than 100 U.S. troops are stationed in the zone, although the U.S. maintains close to 28,500 military personnel in South Korea.

Clinton emphasized that better relations with the North remain possible, an apparent reference to so-called Six-Party Talks on getting rid of the North's nuclear program that have been in limbo since 2008.

Material from The Washington Post and The New York Times is included in this report.