US imposes more North Korea sanctions; urges China, Russia expulsions

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States announced new sanctions on Wednesday aimed at stopping North Korea’s nuclear weapons development and urged China and Russia to expel North Koreans raising funds for the programs.

The U.S. Treasury imposed sanctions on nine entities, 16 people and six North Korean ships it accused of helping the weapons programs. It said two China-based trading firms were involved in exporting millions of dollars worth of metals and other goods used in weapons production.

The individuals included members of North Korea’s Workers Party operating in China, Russia and Georgia’s breakaway Abkhazia region. Among them were North Korea’s vice consul in Nakhodka, Russia and an individual reportedly involved in sending North Korean labourers to Abkhazia.

“Treasury continues to systematically target individuals and entities financing the Kim regime and its weapons programs, including officials complicit in North Korean sanctions evasion schemes,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement.

“The U.S. government is targeting illicit actors in China, Russia, and elsewhere who are working on behalf of North Korean financial networks, and calling for their expulsion from the territories where they reside.”

The entities sanctioned included North Korea’s Ministry of Crude Oil Industry.

The action enables the United States to block assets held by the individuals or firms in the United States and prohibits U.S. citizens from dealing with them.

Asked if the Chinese companies sanctioned by the United States had broken sanctions, foreign ministry spokeswomen Hua Chunying said that she did not have all the facts right now.

China will investigate any company or individual that is found to have violated U.N. resolutions in accordance with Chinese law, she said.

“China resolutely opposes any country using its own laws to carry out long-arm jurisdiction on Chinese companies or individuals,” she said.

The United States has led an international campaign to tighten sanctions on North Korea to force it to give up development of nuclear weapons and missiles capable of hitting the United States.

The U.N. Security Council in December unanimously imposed new sanctions on North Korea for a recent intercontinental ballistic missile test, seeking to further limit its access to refined petroleum products and crude oil.

CIA director Mike Pompeo has said North Korea is “a handful of months” away from being able to make a nuclear attack on the United States.

On Tuesday, he said U.S. President Donald Trump’s focus was on a diplomatic solution to the crisis backed by tighter sanctions, but the CIA was working to provide a range of other options should that fail.

The Trump administration has said all options are on the table including military ones, and officials say the president and his advisers have discussed the possibility of a limited strike. But debate on military options has lost some momentum in recent weeks after North and South Korea resumed talks ahead of next month’s Winter Olympics in the South.

Sanctions expert Anthony Ruggiero of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies think tank said the Treasury move showed Trump’s “maximum pressure” policy would continue even with the focus on the inter-Korea talks.

“The action against Chinese firms is important as it increases the pressure on Beijing to stop Chinese nationals from facilitating North Korea’s sanctions evasion,” he said.

Treasury named the firms as Beijing Chengxing Trading Co Ltd and Dandong Jinxiang Trade Co Ltd.

A senior U.S. official said this week that despite the Trump administration’s recent public focus on Russia, China remained the main culprit in North Korea sanctions busting. He pointed to involvement of Chinese organised crime groups, banks, and government officials in the peddling of amphetamines, counterfeit currency and fake luxury goods.

While China has backed successive rounds of U.N. sanctions on North Korea it worries that excessive pressure could cause the collapse of a country it has long considered a strategic ally.

Reporting by David Alexander and David Brunnstrom; Additional reporting by Christian Shepherd in BEIJING; Editing by James Dalgleish, Andrea Ricci and Neil Fullick

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Officer fatally shot in Colorado identified; manhunt underway for two suspects

Video

Colorado sheriff’s deputy dies in shooting

Manhunt underway for suspects.

An Adams County, Colo. police officer was fatally shot late Wednesday in Thornton, prompting a massive manhunt for two suspects, police said.

Law enforcement sources said a third suspect is in custody, FOX 31 reported. 

The Colorado Police Officers Foundation identified the slain deputy early Thursday morning as Heath Gumm, 32.

The foundation, which said Gumm is survived by his wife and family, set up a webpage for donations to help the family.

Police responded to a fatal shooting of an Adams County, Colo. officer late Wednesday night.

 (Shaul Turner, KDVR – Fox 31 Denver)

Police said the incident began when they were responding to an “assault in progress” and found that a suspect had fled upon their arrival.

After a search of the area, police said, they found a male in the area who matched a suspect description.

The suspect fled behind a house, and fired at deputies with a handgun when confronted, a police spokeswoman said. He hit one deputy in the chest before fleeing on foot, police said.

Police were reportedly using this drone to search for suspects after the Colorado shooting.

 (Ashley Michels, KDVR – Fox 31 Denver)

Authorities said they are looking for “two light-skinned black males or dark-skinned Hispanic males dressed in all black.”

SWAT teams were continuing to look for the suspects as the dragnet continued late into the night, and police were reportedly using airborne drones to search the area.

“Officer down, please avoid the area of 88^th and Dawston Street,” the Adams County Sheriff’s Office tweeted shortly after the shooting. “Large perimeter with suspect still at large.”

The tweet advised residents in the area to “seek shelter away from the doors and windows.”

Firefighters gathered to pay respects to the slain Colorado deputy early Thursday.

 (Ashley Michels, KDVR – Fox 31 Denver)

In a follow-up tweet, the department described a “large dangerous scene with active searches in progress.”

“Tonight we watched as a community was on edge and a sheriff’s deputy was shot while responding to a call in Adams County,” Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper said in a statement. “We are deeply saddened to learn that the deputy has died from injuries sustained in the shooting. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Adams County Sheriff’s Office and the family and friends of the deputy killed. The investigation is ongoing and authorities continue to work to restore calm to the area.”

Some residents reported a tense scene in the community in the immediate aftermath of the shooting.

“Officers walking around with rifles drawn,” a reporter posted on Twitter. “Deputy just told us ‘guys careful I was just pointing my rifle at you thinking you had a gun.’”

A Walmart employee near the shooting reportedly told reporters that doors at the store were locked as the manhunt continued.

The fatal shooting comes less than a month after a Douglas County, Colo., deputy was killed and several others were wounded in an ambush-style shooting.

A man mourns the death of a Colorado sheriff’s deputy Wednesday night in Thornton.

 (KDVR – Fox 31 Denver)

Last Wednesday, an Adams County deputy fatally shot a man who fought with him in an apartment complex, police said.

Gregg Re is an editor for Fox News. Follow him on Twitter @gregg_re.

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