Trump Administration Takes Jab at North Korea, Seizing Sanction-Skirting Ship

North Korea’s typical pattern of aggression and forgiveness may have worked with other world leaders in the past, but Donald Trump certainly isn’t falling for it.

Just weeks ago, Trump walked away from nuclear negations with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in a move that seemed to baffle the dainty despot.  Kim, in the time since, has spent his days ramping up the propaganda machine in order to threaten the United States…again.

Now, after two sets of seemingly successful rocket launches this week, almost certainly with the intent of bringing the US back to the negotiating table, the North Korean government has only managed to annoy President Trump.

This has led the administration to punish the DPRK in unexpected ways.

The U.S. has seized a North Korean freighter that was caught shipping coal in violation of U.N. sanctions, the Justice Department revealed Thursday.

The 17,000-ton cargo ship, called the Wise Honest, was stopped in Indonesia last year after it was found to be carrying coal. The ship’s captain was charged with violating Indonesian law, and last July, the U.S. filed an action to seize the ship, according to court papers.

On Thursday, the Justice Department asked a federal judge to give the U.S. ownership of the vessel through a civil forfeiture action — the same thing prosecutors do when they seek to take ownership of planes or boats used by drug smugglers. The Justice Department says the U.S. is entitled to take this action because payments to maintain and equip the vessel were made through American banks.

North Korea has long been attempting to skirt international sanctions placed on them due to their abundant human rights’ violations.

Meanwhile, the nation’s rationing scheme has reduced citizen intake of food to just 11 ounces per day – a figure that experts warn could lead to famine in just a matter of years.