In the aftermath of North Korea’s fifth nuclear test, the US is pushing other countries to cut off or scale down diplomatic and economic relations with the defiant regime, a senior official said Wednesday.

Daniel Russel, assistant secretary for Asian and Pacific affairs at the US State Department, said the measure is aimed at further isolating the country that views diplomatic meetings and visits as “important markers of its international legitimacy.”

“This month, we instructed our embassies around the world to ask host governments to condemn the test and take further additional actions to downgrade or sever diplomatic and economic ties (with Pyongyang),” he said during a testimony at a hearing of the Senate foreign relations subcommittee on East Asia and the Pacific.

As of Sunday, 75 nations had issued condemnations over the Sept. 9 explosion, and several others have called off or reduced planned talks and visits with North Korean officials, he said.

Seoul’s Foreign Ministry said the number had grown to 97 countries and 14 multilateral organizations as of Thursday.

The move is intended to induce a change in the regime’s “strategic calculations” by creating an “environment where it cannot carry out normal activities in the international community,” ministry spokesperson Cho June-hyuck said at a news briefing.

The communist state is known to have formal relationships with 164 countries, with 24 of them operating embassies in Pyongyang. It has diplomatic missions in 46 nations. 

While the UN Security Council moves to impose new sanctions over the latest test, its previous resolutions have borne fruit, resulting in the shutdown of some of the North’s shipping lines and a decrease in landing privileges provided to Air Koryo, the country’s flag carrier, Russel said.

Among other examples are: the eviction of North Korean diplomats engaged in illicit activities in countries such as Bangladesh, South Africa and Myanmar; Taiwan’s halt of coal imports from the North; Malta’s termination of visa extensions for North Korean workers; and the imposition of visa restrictions on North Koreans elsewhere.

South Korea’s pullout from an inter-Korean factory park, implemented after Pyongyang’s fourth underground blast in January, closed off an “important source of foreign currency” to the Kim Jong-un regime, he said. 

Challenges persist, however, such as the North’s ongoing trade of coal and other resources chiefly with China, which generate more than $1 billion in annual revenue and account for about a third of its export income, as well as the remaining shipping network and labor exports, Russel said.

“We are working to build on previous UNSCRs to address loopholes that allow North Korea to export coal and iron ore, earning precious foreign currency for the Kim regime on the backs of enslaved workers, including children,” he said.

“We are not yet satisfied and believe there is more we can do. Much will depend on China, which is by far North Korea’s greatest trading partner. ... Securing increased cooperation and application of pressure on North Korea is a major goal of our diplomacy with China.”

Referring to Washington’s recent slapping of sanctions on a Chinese firm, Russel pledged not to “shy away from unilateral actions” against North Korean actors including those in China.

The US Treasury on Monday blacklisted Dandong Hongxiang Industrial Development, an industry machinery wholesaler based in the North Korean-Chinese border region, and four of its executives, including founder Ma Xiaohong. They are suspected to have provided financial services and illicit supplies that could help Pyongyang’s weapons program.

Daniel Fried, the department’s coordinator for sanctions policy, also indicated at the session that Washington is probing other entities that have potential connections with the North’s clandestine activities.

He warned Chinese businesses against any activities supporting Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile projects, saying they were “not off limits” and his words were “not a phrase.”

“It will also be useful if Chinese banks and companies understood that increasingly dealing with North Korean companies, especially those that are sanctioned, is going to be risky -- frankly not worth it,” Fried said.

By Shin Hyon-hee (heeshin@heraldcorp.com)