US sanctions North Korean network accused of defrauding businesses

Oct 28 (Reuters) - The United States ‌imposed sanctions ​on Wednesday ​to target what the Treasury Department said were North Korean government-run schemes that use IT workers to defraud US businesses and ‌generate revenue for Pyongyang's weapons programs.

The Treasury Department said the schemes ⁠involve North Korean IT workers fraudulently gaining employment with companies in the United States and ‌elsewhere, and Pyongyang taking most ‌of the workers' wages to fund its weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs.

"These networks permeate through the global financial system, necessitating a unified ​response to match the threat," the department said in a statement, adding that Australia and the European Union also imposed North Korea-related sanctions this ⁠month.

North Korea's mission to the United Nations in New York did not immediately respond to a request ​for comment.

The sanctions come as US President Donald Trump has been eager to jump-start talks with North Korea, but Pyongyang has ​shown little interest in diplomacy aimed at ‌containing its nuclear program. However, earlier this month Trump downplayed the idea of another high-profile meeting with Kim in China ⁠next month.

Trump became the only US president to have met a North Korean leader when he held an unprecedented series of summits with Kim in 2018 and 2019, but ⁠the diplomatic efforts broke down over US demands that North Korea give up its nuclear ​weapons.

Trump has since referred to North Korea repeatedly as a "nuclear power," although his administration has continued to call for the country's denuclearization and has not formally recognized it as a ‌nuclear-weapons state.

Wednesday's sanctions targets include facilitators and North Korean IT workers based in North Korea and Russia, the Treasury Department ‌said. The targeted entity is named the First Financial and Technical Development Center, ⁠and six of the sanctioned individuals ‌are linked to that ​firm.

The Treasury Department sanctioned a separate North Korean IT worker network in March.

(Reporting by Bhargav Acharya and Ismail Shakil; editing by ‌Michelle Nichols)

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