The United States froze Tuesday the assets of two North Korean entities and banned them from doing business in the US as it enforced tough new sanctions against Pyongyang over its nuclear drive.
The presidential order against the General Bureau of Atomic Energy (GBAE) and the Korea Tangun Trading Corporation would have immediate effect, the State Department said in a statement.
It was part of US efforts to prevent suspect North Korean entities from obtaining the financial and commercial means to help Pyongyang "develop nuclear weapons and the missiles capable of delivering them," it said.
North Korea announced last week that experimental uranium enrichment was entering the completion phase, in a defiant response to tougher United Nations sanctions imposed after its May 25 nuclear test and separate missile launches.
GBAE oversees North Korea's nuclear program and manages operations at the Yongbyon nuclear plant, while the trading firm helps procure commodities and technologies for defense research, development and procurement.
"Any assets of the entities designated today that are within US jurisdiction must be frozen. Additionally, US persons are prohibited from conducting any transactions with these entities," the State Department said.
Both GBAE and the Korea Tangun Trading Corporation had already been blacklisted by the United Nations back in July for their role in North Korea's weapons of mass production and missile programs, it said.
It was not immediately clear whether they had any assets in the United States or in areas under US jurisdiction, or whether they conducted business with any American individuals.
North Korea said last week it had reached the final stages of enriching uranium and was also building more plutonium-based atomic weapons.
The reclusive communist state quit the six-party talks grouping the two Koreas, the US, Japan, Russia and China in April in protest at UN censure of a rocket launch.
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