U.S. Sanctions Singapore-based Firms

The U.S. Treasury announced on Thursday that it has slapped sanctions on two Singapore-based firms and one individual, accusing them of laundering money for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

The Treasury claimed in a statement that the designated firms and the individual, a Singaporean national, have engaged in money laundering, the counterfeiting of goods or currency or other "illicit economic activity" that involves or supports Pyongyang.

As a result of the sanctions, all property and interests of the designated entities and persons subject to U.S. jurisdiction are blocked, and U.S. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions with them.

The Treasury also noted in the statement that the U.S. Department of Justice on Thursday unsealed criminal charges against the blacklisted individual.

The Treasury's new move was the latest among a series of sanctions imposed by the United States on the DPRK-related entities and individuals amid the ongoing talks between the two sides on the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.

Washington also insisted that the sanctions against the DPRK stay in place "until denuclearization occurs," a stance firmly opposed by Pyongyang.