United States today imposed sanctions on eight North Korean banks and 26 bank executives, ratcheting up pressure on the country amid increasingly bellicose exchanges with Pyongyang over its nuclear programme.<br/>'<br/>US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement in Washington today that this further advances our strategy to fully isolate North Korea in order to achieve our broader objectives of a peaceful and denuclearized Korean peninsula. <br/>'<br/>All property and interest of the designated companies and individuals in the US are blocked by the sanctions. <br/><br/>'''''''<br/>