BBC News with Jerry Smit

The United States is imposing fresh financial sanctions against North Korea. The new measures target five companies and organizations and three individuals, all linked to the country's weapons of mass destruction programme. From Washington, Laura Trevelyan reports.

The US government is widening the scope of sanctions against North Korea in an effort to cut off all income that may be used for the country's nuclear programme. Now companies involved in North Korea's trade in arms, luxury goods, drug trafficking and money counterfeiting that have financial assets in America can be targeted. This latest move underlines the poor state of relations between the US and North Korea. The current American policy is to ratchet up economic sanctions against the North and carry out joint American-South Korean naval exercises.