New U.S. sanctions aimed at curbing North Korean's weapons programs, including measures aimed at Chinese financial institutions, can be expected "fairly soon," a senior U.S. official said on Tuesday.
Asked when such sanctions could be expected and whether they could come within 30 days, Susan Thornton, the acting assistant secretary of state for East Asia, told a Senate sub-committee hearing:
"We have been working on coming up with a new list of entities that we think are violating ... I think you’ll see something fairly soon, yes."
Thornton said the United States would prefer to cooperate with China in going after entities doing business with North Korea in violation of U.N. sanctions.
"But we are perfectly prepared to act on our own," she said.
