“We strongly encourage other states to undertake similar actions,” said U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack, referring to the sanctions.

Beijing responded by announcing it would not attend upcoming talks with U.S. and south Korean officials on the DPRK's nuclear program. “The Chinese government has always advocated that this issue should be resolved by dialogue and we are opposed to sanctions,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang.

In July, Washington and Tokyo successfully pushed through a resolution in the United Nations Security Council retaliating against north Korea for testing seven long-range ballistic missiles earlier that month. The resolution bans UN member states from the “transfer of financial resources, items, materials, goods, and technology that could contribute to the DPRK’s missile and other WMD [weapons of mass destruction] programs.”

The U.S. Treasury Department blacklisted eight north Korean firms in October 2005, after Washington accused Banco Delta Asia in Macau of counterfeiting U.S. dollars for the DPRK.

On September 1, just as 17,000 U.S. and south Korean troops were completing joint military exercises based on a scenario of invading the north, the U.S. military successfully tested an anti-ballistic missile. At the time, U.S. secretary of defense Donald Rumsfeld specifically pointed to north Korea and Iran as prime targets. In late June, Washington and Tokyo signed an agreement to jointly produce anti-ballistic missiles, and to deploy Patriot Advanced Capability-3 missiles on U.S. bases in Japan.

Following the DPRK missile tests in July, Tokyo barred entry into Japan of north Korean government officials and banned for six months a ferry providing the only direct passenger link between the two countries.

Six-party talks involving the governments of the United States, China, Japan, Russia, and north and south Korea that are aimed at pressuring the DPRK to abandon its nuclear program have been stalled since last November. Pyongyang has said it will not participate as long as imperialist economic sanctions remain in effect.  
 
 
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