China issues ban on North Korean imports to comply with UN sanctions

North Korea came under further international pressure on Monday after China moved to implement recently approved UN trade sanctions against the regime.

The sanctions approved by the UN Security Council earlier this month included a ban on imports of coal, iron ore, iron and lead from the country.

China's ministry of commerce issued the order implementing the sanctions after tensions between Pyongyang and Washington rose to dangerous levels last week.

The ban was set to take effect from Tuesday.

However, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hua Chunying simultaneously decried US president Donald Trump's intention to sign an executive momerandum on Monday launching an investigation into Beijing's violation of intellectual property laws.

Hua said: "It is obviously improper to use one thing as a tool to imposing pressure on another thing. There will be no winner from a trade war, it will be lose-lose."

On a similar note, in an editorial piece, state-owned China Daily said: "By trying to incriminate Beijing as an accomplice in the DPRK's nuclear adventure and blame it for a failure that is essentially a failure of all stakeholders, Trump risks making the serious mistake of splitting up the international coalition that is the means to resolve the issue peacefully."