China says it is committed to enforcing U.N. sanctions against North Korean companies and individuals linked to Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programs, a U.S. official said on Thursday, Reuters reported.
Ambassador Philip Goldberg, U.S. coordinator for implementation of U.N. sanctions against North Korea, told reporters that U.N. member states have voiced "a unity of view, a singleness of purpose in implementing these (sanctions) resolutions."
"That's the case, certainly, with our Chinese partners," he said after addressing a closed-door meeting of the Security Council's sanctions committee on North Korea. "There have been some results, some of those have been reported in the press."
This week a Chinese newspaper reported that Chinese border police seized 70 kg (154 lb) of the strategic metal vanadium bound for North Korea, foiling an attempt to smuggle a material used to make missile parts.
The 15-nation U.N. Security Council first imposed sanctions on North Korea after its nuclear test in October 2006.
China, the closest North Korea has to a major ally, voted for that resolution but never implemented it, which meant the partial arms embargo and ban on trade in nuclear and ballistic missile technology were left virtually unenforced.
After North Korea's second nuclear test in May this year, the council passed a new resolution that expanded the arms embargo, urged states to cut off all financial ties with Pyongyang unrelated to aid programs, and called for additional firms and individuals to be placed on a U.N. blacklist for aiding North Korea.