DPRK Foreign Ministry Spokesman Slams U.S. Racket of Tightening Financial Sanctions

 Pyongyang, March 29 (KCNA) -- A spokesman for the Foreign Ministry of the DPRK gave the following answer to the question raised by KCNA on Wednesday as regards the frantic financial sanctions racket being kicked up by the U.S.-led hostile forces against the DPRK:
    The U.S.-led hostile forces at a plenary meeting of the International Financial Supervisory Body held in Paris in February last again staged a farce of re-listing the DPRK as a target of "countermeasure" for blocking its financial transactions with other countries. Then, they pressurized the Society for World Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) headquartered in Belgium into terminating its financial communication service to the banks of the DPRK.
    The U.S. House of Representatives produced a "bill on escalating sanctions with respect to transactions with North Korea" after modifying and supplementing the "North Korea Sanctions and Policy Enhancement Act of 2016." It has gone the lengths of crying out for independent sanctions against banks and businesses of other countries dealing with the DPRK after inventing absurd pretexts.
    The recent racket kicked up by the U.S.-led hostile forces to tighten financial sanctions against the DPRK is no more than a stopgap measure of those being driven into a tight corner in the political and military standoff with the DPRK.
    A step was taken by SWIFT to ban its communication with the banks of the DPRK but the banks of the DPRK have not dealt with the SWIFT since a long time ago in actuality.
    As for the farce staged by the International Financial Supervisory Body to re-list the DPRK as a "target of countermeasure", it is just an unfair one taken under pressure from the U.S., as repeatedly clarified by the DPRK.
    The DPRK is doing its best after establishing the system of anti-money laundering and combating financing of terrorism in accordance with international standard.
    The independent sanctions the U.S. claims slapping against other countries dealing with the DPRK are also being opposed worldwide as an impudent act of wantonly violating international law.
    All facts go to clearly prove that the frantic racket of the U.S. is aimed to tarnish the international image of the DPRK and stir up the international atmosphere of ratcheting up sanctions and pressure upon it.
    The whole gamut of base actions the U.S. and its vassal forces are running to deprive the DPRK of its nuclear weapons under the pretexts of UN sanctions and independent sanctions would only result in bringing into bolder relief the unreasonable and immoral nature of the sanctions.
    They can never check the advance of the DPRK accelerating the building of a socialist power under the unfurled banner of self-reliance and self-development, firmly holding the nuclear deterrent, a treasured sword of victory. -0-