*Image captured on Mar. 2019 by a UN panel of experts shows a North Korean vessel involved an illicit ship-to-ship transfer. 

Anchor: In a move aimed at heightening pressure on Pyongyang, the United States sanctioned two Chinese shipping companies for doing business with North Korea. This comes in the wake of the collapsed nuclear summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Hanoi last month. 
Kim Bum-soo has more.

Report: Washington has again made it clear that there will be no sanctions relief for North Korea until it denuclearizes.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury on Thursday imposed sanctions on two Chinese shipping companies for doing business with North Korea in violation of existing UN sanctions.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement that his government and like-minded partners remain committed to achieving the final, fully verified denuclearization of North Korea. He added that the full implementation of UN Security Council sanctions on North Korea is "crucial to a successful outcome." 

One of the targeted firms is Dalian Haibo International Freight Co. Ltd., which the U.S. blamed for helping North Korea's Paeksol Trading Corp. bypass the sanctions. 

Meanwhile, Liaoning Danxing International Forwarding Co. Ltd. is accused of helping North Korean officials in Europe purchase goods for Pyongyang. The company has been investigated by the UN Panel of Experts on suspicions of shipping Mercedes-Benz limousines to North Korea that were used during the first U.S.-North Korea summit in Singapore last year.

The U.S. also updated its advisory on North Korea's illicit shipping practices, naming 67 vessels suspected of exporting North Korean coal or engaging in ship-to-ship transfers of refined petroleum. 

The UN sanctions placed a 500-thousand barrel cap on North Korea's imports of refined petroleum and banned its exports of coal after the regime conducted nuclear weapons and missile tests through 2017.

The Treasury Department said that at least 263 tankers delivered refined petroleum to North Korea via ship-to-ship transfers last year. The smuggling could have delivered up to three-point-78 million barrels of oil to the isolated state, which is about seven-and-a-half times more than the amount allowed under the UN sanctions. 
Kim Bum-soo, KBS World Radio News.