U.S. Treasury official to visit Asia over DPRK, Iran sanctions

WASHINGTON, July 26 (Xinhua) -- A top U.S. Treasury official will visit four Asian nations next week to discuss the implementation of sanctions on Iran and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) over their nuclear programs.

During his visit to Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Malaysia, David Cohen, under secretary of Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, will meet senior government officials and key private sector representatives, the Treasury said in a statement Friday.

Pyongyang is under broad UN arms sales sanctions after it launched a long-range rocket in December 2012 and conducted its third underground nuclear test in February.

The U.S. government has also applied a series of tough sanctions against Iran in an attempt to prevent it from acquiring a nuclear weapon, though Tehran insists its nuclear program is purely for civilian research purposes.

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