Washington imposed sanctions on two individuals from Taiwan and three Chinese entities for activities tied to North Korea, the US Treasury said in a press release. It also sanctioned the Panama-registered ship the Shang Yuan Bao.
According to the US Treasury, the latest sanctions target a shipping network involved in ship-to-ship transfers with North Korea.
The new sanctions came after US Defense Secretary Mark Esper expressed Washington's intention to continue its efforts to engage Pyongyang diplomatically while keeping sanctions against it in place until full and verifiable denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula was in place.
His statement came amid repeated launches of what South Korea claimed to be short-range missiles by Pyongyang, which increased in frequency during July and August. North Korea has stated that the launches were a "warning" against South Korean-US joint military drills, which began on 5 August.
The situation on the Korean Peninsula improved significantly last year after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un held talks with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and US President Donald Trump.
In June 2018, Kim and Trump said that North Korea would make efforts towards the total denuclearisation of the peninsula in exchange for a freeze in US-South Korea military exercises and the removal of US sanctions.
However, the negotiating process stalled earlier this year, with tensions escalating recently after further North Korean missile tests.
