"We believe we have the authorities we need, and yes, we are looking at all possible pressure points including financial," Fried said when asked during a Senate hearing if the United States intended to sanction Chinese banks caught facilitating North Korean financial transactions.
The US Treasury also announced sanctions on four top executives of DHID.
Fried explained the Monday actions "demonstrate that we are willing to take the next step of designating third country entities which are cooperating with designated North Korean banks."
"We are indeed working to address the problem of North Korean coal export generally, and specifically to China," Fried explained.
Despite China signing agreeing to historically tough sanctions on North Korea under the United Nations Security Council Resolution 2270, the United States has been critical of Beijing’s ongoing economic ties with Pyongyang.
The latest UN sanctions were imposed in response to North Korea’s fourth nuclear weapons test in January. On September 9, North Korea carried out its fifth nuclear weapons test.
