Washington has announced a reward of $5milion (£3.7million) for any information regarding the breach of these sanctions. The US has claimed China has been making sanctions evasions. US Deputy Assistant Secretary for North Korea Alex Wong said Beijing is actively trying to undo UN sanctions aimed at bringing the North Korean regime to the negotiating table.
The US and its allies are trying to persuade North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons programme.
Mr Wong said China had continued to host at least 20,000 North Korean labourers in violation of UN bans.
He also claimed the US had also detected ships carrying prohibited coal or other sanctioned goods from North Korea to China.
These ships are said to have made 555 separate trips.
Speaking to Washington’s Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank Mr Wong said: “On none of these occasions did the Chinese authorities act to stop these illicit imports, not once.”
The US analyst, who develops policy on North Korea, claimed Chinese firms were continuing to do business with UN-sanctioned entities from Pyongyang.
Mr Wong said Beijing “increasingly allows” Chinese companies to trade with Pyongyang.
Much of this trade was said to be in goods prohibited by the UN sanctions.
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“This ensures Chinese reach into the North’s economy.”
The US official warned of new US sanctions for entities within China’s jurisdiction that breach UN sanctions.
Mr Wong said: “We have imposed numerous such sanctions designations in the past, and, I want to tell you, more are forthcoming.”