U.S. beefs up sanctions against North Korea

The United States announced on Tuesday to freeze the assets of two entities of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) in a bid to pressure the country to return the nuclear disarmament talks, Xinhua reported. 
   Under the U.S. presidential executive order, the DPRK's General Bureau of Atomic Energy and the Korea Tangun Trading Corporation were targeted.
   "These designations continue U.S. efforts to prevent North Korean entities of proliferation concern from accessing financial and commercial markets that could aid the regime's efforts to develop nuclear weapons and the missiles capable of delivering them," the State Department said in a statement.
   Prior to the latest U.S. sanctions against two companies, Washington announced in June to freeze any assets held by two other DPRK companies allegedly involving in nuclear weapon and missiles-making activities.