Officials said the measures going beyond the latest round of UN sanctions aimed at getting Kim Jong-un to reign in his nuclear ambitions.
A spokesman said: “The EU member countries’ ambassadors agreed on a package of new autonomous measures.”
In addition, around eight new North Korean officials were likely to be added to the EU sanctions list, which is expected to be adopted by EU foreign ministers at their October 16 meeting.
US President Donald Trump also ordered new sanctions against North Korea, which will hit people and entities doing business with the country.
Mr Trump said: “Our new executive order will cut off sources of revenue that fund North Korea’s efforts to develop the deadliest weapons known to humankind.”
Earlier in the week, Mr Trump threatened to “totally destroy North Korea” if provoked and called North Korean leader Kim Jong-un “Rocket man on a suicide mission”.
The two leaders have since traded insults with Kim dismissing Mr Trump as a “mentally deranged US dotard” and the US president describing the Pyongyang despot as a “madman”.
Kim has threatened to test a hydrogen bomb over the Pacific Ocean prompting warnings from Washington that such an act would be a “game-changer”.
Mr Trump tweeted a message saying Kim would be “tested like never before” if he carried out his Pacific test threat.