The U.S. has reportedly frozen several suspicious accounts in Malaysia held by North Korea, the second substantial act by the U.S. against Pyongyang’s financial resources since the adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 1874 last month.

These moves represent a widening of the field in which the U.S. is pursuing North Korean financial assets, with China, Hong Kong and Macau also targets of the blockade.

On the 30th of last month, the Obama administration moved to freeze the assets of Iranian company “Hong Kong Electronics” on suspicion of supporting the North Korean missile program.

According to South Korean intelligence sources in Washington D.C., there are several suspicious North Korean accounts held by banks in Malaysia, and they will be frozen.

Diplomatic sources say that the U.S. believes North Korea receives payments for military exports to Myanmar via the accounts in Malaysia.

A senior researcher at the Korea Institute for National Unification, Park Young Ho analyzed the move, “Since U.S. financial sanctions against North Korean accounts now cover Hong Kong, Macau and Europe, many countries and companies may want to suspend trade with North Korea simply on the basis of doubts about illegal deals. If the accounts in Malaysia contain as much as the Banco Delta Asia (BDA) account did in 2005, then this will be effective.”

After deciding to place financial sanctions on North Korea, the U.S. has hit the ground running, making two moves in as many weeks.

US Ambassador Philip Goldberg, the U.S. coordinator for the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1874 and his task force visited Malaysia after their trip to China.

It seems that the priority goal of the task force led by Goldberg is to put practical pressure on North Korea by definitively curbing their financial resources, so as to bring about a change in attitude.

U.S. Treasury Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Stuart Levey, who led the freezing of the North Korean accounts with BDA in 2005, is reportedly a part of the task force.

Park Young Ho explained the efficacy of the sanctions, “These financial sanctions against North Korea by the Obama administration are different from those of the Bush administration in terms of international support. The U.S. sanctions have greater significance this time because they are part of a plan to implement UN Resolution 1874, and the Obama administration is internationally backed in doing so.”

He added, “The Bush administration used the BDA measures as the stick with which to force North Korea to take part in the Six Party Talks, but the Obama administration does not have anything similar in mind. North Korea must be concerned about that.”