In the latest example of Japan's "maximum pressure" approach toward Pyongyang, Tokyo imposed fresh sanctions on the regime by freezing the assets of 19 North Korean institutions, officials said Friday.
The move brought the total number of North Korea-linked organizations and individuals whose assets Japan has frozen to 103 and 108, respectively.
Of the 19 organizations newly added to the blacklist, three are banks, two trade minerals including coal, 10 run transportation businesses and four dispatch workers overseas, according to the Foreign Ministry. These institutions have already been singled out by the United States in a series of sanctions unveiled after January 2016, a ministry official said.