“We are certainly concerned by North Korea’s bellicose rhetoric,” Obama spokesman Jay Carney told reporters at the White House. “And the threats that they have been making follow a pattern designed to raise tension and intimidate others. The DPRK will achieve nothing by threats or provocation, which will only further isolate North Korea and undermine international efforts to ensure peace and stability in northeast Asia.” The Treasury Department announced Monday that it was designating North Korea’s primary exchange bank, the Foreign Trade Bank, as a proliferator of weapons of mass destruction. The department said the bank is used for transactions linked to the proliferation network. Treasury also made the same designation, against Paek Se-Bong, the chairman of North Korea’s Second Economic Committee, which oversees production of North Korea’s ballistic missiles. The designation freezes any assets in the U.S. and prohibits transactions with Americans. Obama National Security adviser Tom Donilon told a meeting of the Asia Society in New York that Pyongyang’s claims may be “hyperbolic.” He said the United States will protect its allies.