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The United States on Friday sanctioned 11 North Koreans and one North Korean company for their links to the country's weapons programs, banks and commodities trade, the Treasury said, according to Reuters.

The individuals sanctioned were working as agents of North Korea's government in Russia, China, Vietnam and Cuba to provide financial support or help procure weapons for previously sanctioned companies.

"Today's sanctions are aimed at disrupting the networks and methods that the Government of North Korea employs to fund its unlawful nuclear, ballistic missile, and proliferation programs," Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement.

"I urge our partners and allies to take similar measures to cut off its funding," he added.

North Korea has continued to carry out missile and nuclear tests in defiance of UN sanctions.

The country tested a powerful new rocket engine at the beginning of last week. The test was hailed by its leader Kim Jong-Un as a "new birth" for the nation's rocket industry.

Officials subsequently said North Korea had conducted another ballistic missile engine test last Friday, testing engine technology could possibly be used in an eventual intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).

In addition to the missile engine tests, North Korea earlier this month fired four ballistic missiles into the sea off Japan's northwest coast.

The UN Security Council strongly condemned North Korea’s recent missile and ballistic missile engine tests, denouncing the country’s "increasingly destabilizing behavior".

(Arutz Sheva’s North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)