The Cabinet on Friday approved the imposition of new unilateral sanctions on a number of companies and individuals from China, Namibia and North Korea in a bid to further pressure Pyongyang over its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

The fresh sanctions by Tokyo, in step with the United States, are apparently aimed at preventing the inflow of funds into Pyongyang, which continues to develop its nuclear and missile capabilities in violation of U.N. resolutions.

Tokyo identified four Chinese companies and two Namibian firms, as well as one Chinese individual and one North Korean individual as targets for sanctions.

While Beijing is widely considered to have significant influence over Pyongyang, Namibia has been deepening relations with North Korea in recent years, a source close to the matter said.

“North Korea has been repeatedly carrying out provocative acts. . . . We have decided to work in close coordination with the United States and have taken these new measures reflecting on those taken by the United States on the 22nd (of August),” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a news conference.

On Tuesday, the U.S. administration said it has expanded its North Korea-linked blacklist to encompass 16 mainly Chinese and Russian entities and individuals.

The new measures by Tokyo and Washington came after the U.N. Security Council on Aug. 5 imposed new sanctions on Pyongyang that could slash the country’s $3 billion annual export revenue by one-third in response to its two long-range ballistic missile tests in July.

The penalties on the Chinese entities follow a similar action late last month when Japan and the United States cut off China’s Bank of Dandong from the U.S. financial system. China opposes the imposition of unilateral sanctions by any country outside the framework of the U.N. Security Council, especially those targeting Chinese firms and individuals.

Japan has so far frozen the assets of groups and individuals associated with Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programs, trade of materials including coal, and dispatch of workers to other nations. </s> Tokyo: Japan will impose additional sanctions against North Korea following the reclusive country’s repeated missile launches and unresolved abduction issue, its top government spokesman said on Friday.

Chief cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters that Japan would freeze the assets of six more organisations and two more individuals linked to North Korea. He said they included four Chinese entities and one Chinese individual and two Namibian entities.

In Beijing, Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying expressed “strong dissatisfaction and resolute opposition” to the Japanese sanctions.

The US on Tuesday imposed new North Korea-related sanctions, targeting Chinese and Russian firms and individuals for supporting Pyongyang’s weapons programmes, including a Namibia-based subsidiary of a Chinese company and a North Korean entity operating in Namibia.

Asked what message Japan was sending with the additional sanctions, Suga said is it was important to observe the UNSC resolutions.

“It is extremely important to exert pressure in this form while acting in concert with the United States and South Korea,” he said.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has ordered more solid-fuel rocket engines, state media reported on Wednesday, as he pursues nuclear and missile programmes amid a standoff with Washington.

Responding to Japan’s latest steps, China’s foreign ministry spokeswoman said Beijing opposed any unilateral sanctions outside the United Nations Security Council framework, especially those targeting Chinese entities and people.

Japan’s actions “gravely harm China’s interests and judicial sovereignty, and create new political obstacles to improving China-Japan relations,” Hua told a daily news briefing.

“China demands that Japan immediately ceases with the relevant mistaken methods. If Japan remains obstinately on this course, it must bear the consequences.”

China has signed up for increasingly tough UN sanctions against North Korea, and promised to fully and effectively enforce them.

But China has been angered by unilateral sanctions placed against Chinese companies and individuals by the United States in particular, saying only China has the right to target those in the country who may illegally be aiding Pyongyang. Reuters </s> Tokyo: Japan said on Friday it will impose fresh sanctions on North Korea by freezing the assets of Chinese and Namibian firms doing business with the nuclear-armed state.

The move against a half dozen organisations and a couple of individuals comes days after Washington expanded its own punitive measures against Chinese and Russian firms, as well as people linked to Pyongyang.

The US move drew an angry response from Beijing, North Korea`s key ally, while Japanese media said Friday that Namibia has been tightening its links to the North in recent years.

"We will continue to make strong calls (for North Korea) to take actions toward denuclearisation," Yoshihide Suga, the Japanese government`s top spokesman, told a regular press briefing.

"Now is the time to apply pressure," he added.

The sanctions are aimed at disrupting the flow of cash funding North Korean weapons programmes, which are in violation of United Nations resolutions.

Japan has previously frozen the assets of entities and individuals involved in natural resources and research work related to Pyongyang`s nuclear and missile development programmes.

The US and its allies, particularly Japan and South Korea, have been on high alert in recent months as North Korea carried out successive missile tests.

Tensions have eased since North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un pulled back from a plan to send a salvo of missiles towards the US Pacific territory of Guam.

But Pyongyang Wednesday disclosed significant technological advances and ambitious plans to further improve its missile capabilities.

US President Donald Trump, like his predecessors, has called on China to play more active roles in convincing North Korea to stop threatening its neighbours and the US.

But China has so far been lukewarm on the idea, preferring to address the issue through long-stalled talks.

On Friday, China hit out the new Japanese sanctions.

"We firmly oppose any other unilateral sanction outside the framework of the UN Security Council, in particular those targeting Chinese entities and individuals," Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a regular press briefing in Beijing.

"We urge the Japanese side to stop this and if it insists on doing this wilfully, it must accept the consequences," she added, without elaborating.

China backed new United Nations sanctions against North Korea this month and has announced that it was upholding them by banning imports of iron, iron ore and seafood from its neighbour.

Beijing had already suspended imports of North Korean coal in February. </s> BEIJING: China's commerce ministry late on Friday banned North Korean individuals and enterprises from doing new business in China, in line with United Nations Security Council sanctions passed earlier this month.

New joint venture enterprises, new wholly owned businesses and the expansion of existing entities involving North Korean individuals or companies are prohibited in China, according to a notice released on the ministry's website.

Applications for Chinese new or expanded investment in North Korea by Chinese companies would not be approved, the ministry said. The new measures take effect immediately.

New sanctions by China, Japan, the United States and the United Nations are aimed at pressuring Pyongyang to end its nuclear weapons programme. </s> WASHINGTON - The Trump administration on Tuesday imposed sanctions on 16 mainly Chinese and Russian companies and people for assisting North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile programs and helping the North make money to support those programs.

The penalties are intended to complement new U.N. Security Council sanctions and further isolate North Korea for its nuclear and missile tests amid heightened tensions that have led to threats from both sides, the Treasury Department said in a statement. The 16 affected entities either do business with previously sanctioned companies and people, work with the North Korean energy sector, help it place workers abroad or facilitate its evasion of international financial curbs.

The measures block any assets they may have in U.S. jurisdictions and bar Americans from transactions with them.

"It is unacceptable for individuals and companies in China, Russia, and elsewhere to enable North Korea to generate income used to develop weapons of mass destruction and destabilize the region," Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said. "We are taking actions consistent with U.N. sanctions to show that there are consequences for defying sanctions and providing support to North Korea, and to deter this activity in the future."

Among those sanctioned are six Chinese companies, including three coal companies; two Singapore-based companies that sell oil to North Korea and three Russians that work with them; a Russian company that deals in North Korean metals and its Russian director; a construction company based in Namibia; a second Namibia-based company, and its North Korean director, that supplies North Korean workers to build statues overseas to generate income for the North.

Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. </s> Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga crossed the wires earlier on the day, via Reuters, calling for more sanctions on North Korea, after the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered more solid-fuel rocket engines on Wednesday.

Japan would freeze the assets of six more organizations and two more individuals linked to North Korea </s> China has banned new business ventures with North Korea, the Chinese Commerce Ministry said in a statement late Friday.

The action is in line with the United Nations Security Council sanctions passed earlier this month.

The statement released on ministry’s website said that effective immediately, new joint venture enterprises, new wholly owned businesses and the expansion of existing entities involving North Korean individuals or companies are prohibited in China.

The ministry also said it would not approve applications for new or expanded investment in North Korea by Chinese companies.

The U.N. Security Council approved new sanctions against North Korea earlier this month because of intercontinental ballistic missile tests conducted in July .

The sanctions are intended to pressure Pyongyang to end its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs. </s> 'We will continue to make strong calls (for North Korea) to take actions toward denuclearization,' says Yoshihide Suga, the Japanese government's top spokesman

TOKYO, Japan – Japan said Friday, August 25, it will impose fresh sanctions on North Korea by freezing the assets of Chinese and Namibian firms doing business with the nuclear-armed state.

The move against a half dozen organizations and a couple of individuals comes days after Washington expanded its own punitive measures against Chinese and Russian firms, as well as people linked to Pyongyang.

The US move drew an angry response from Beijing, North Korea's key ally, while Japanese media said Friday that Namibia has been tightening its links to the North in recent years.

"We will continue to make strong calls (for North Korea) to take actions toward denuclearization," Yoshihide Suga, the Japanese government's top spokesman, told a regular press briefing.

"Now is the time to apply pressure," he added.

The sanctions are aimed at disrupting the flow of cash funding North Korean weapons programs, which are in violation of United Nations resolutions.

Japan has previously frozen the assets of entities and individuals involved in natural resources and research work related to Pyongyang's nuclear and missile development programs.

The US and its allies, particularly Japan and South Korea, have been on high alert in recent months as North Korea carried out successive missile tests.

Tensions have eased since North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un pulled back from a plan to send a salvo of missiles towards the US Pacific territory of Guam.

But Pyongyang Wednesday, August 23 disclosed significant technological advances and ambitious plans to further improve its missile capabilities.

US President Donald Trump, like his predecessors, has called on China to play more active roles in convincing North Korea to stop threatening its neighbors and the US.

But China has so far been lukewarm on the idea, preferring to address the issue through long-stalled talks. – Rappler.com </s> China responded angrily Saturday to new sanctions the United States imposed on North Korea, maintaining they were counterproductive to efforts to halt Pyongyang's nuclear and long-range missile development programs.

U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Friday what he called the "largest ever" set of sanctions against North Korea and threatened a "phase two" if the measures weren't effective.

The sanctions target one person, 27 companies and 28 ships registered in China and seven other countries with the intent of eliminating North Korea's illicit shipping and trade. They block assets held by the companies in the U.S. and prohibit U.S. citizens from interacting with them.

China's Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying Beijing "resolutely opposes" the U.S. for "enacting unilateral sanctions" and vowed to "seriously handle" the issue in accordance with the law. The ministry also demanded that the U.S. immediately lift the sanctions "to avoid harming bilateral cooperation in the relevant area."

Saturday's statement was China's latest in a series of denunciations of any sanctions against North Korea not imposed within the framework of the United Nations.

China, traditionally North Korea's closest ally, insists it has fully enforced existing sanctions against Pyongyang. China's trade with North Korea in January fell to its lowest level in nearly four years, the latest indication China has maintained pressure on the isolated country.

Since last August, the U.S. has helped oversee three rounds of U.N. Security Council sanctions against North Korea. The pressure has not stopped Pyongyang from conducting more nuclear and missile tests.

The new sanctions' effectiveness depends on whether they can successfully be implemented. And the U.S. has limited leverage over many of the shipping companies involved in helping North Korea evade sanctions, warned Gary Samore, former White House coordinator for arms control and weapons of mass destruction.

"A lot of the companies working with North Korea are very small," Samore said. "And they don't care whether they work with the United States."

Jonathan Schanzer, a former Treasury Department official, praised the new sanctions for addressing North Korean shipping, which he said "has long been a gaping hole in the U.S. sanctions regime."

"The only thing missing ... is action against complicit Chinese banks," said Schanzer, now with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. "We know they continue to undermine our efforts to isolate North Korea."

Until that step is taken, he said, North Korea "will be able to operate rather freely in the formal financial sector."
The Cabinet of Japan imposes sanctions on various companies in China and Namibia for their business relations with North Korea.