Beijing denies Trump's announcement about ending business with Pyongyang

The Chinese government on Friday denied the veracity of statements made by US President Donald Trump, who said Thursday that the People's Bank of China (central) had ordered the country's financial institutions to stop working with North Korea .

"As far as I know, the aforementioned is not according to the facts," a Foreign Ministry spokesman, Lu Kang, told reporters in Beijing after being asked about the statements by the US president.

After announcing new sanctions against North Korea, Trump said that the People's Bank of China had ordered the country's financial institutions, Pyongyang's main trading partner, not to do business with the Kim Jong-un regime, which would be a heavy blow for its economy.

"I am very proud to say ... that China, its central bank, has ordered the rest of its banks, a huge banking system, to immediately stop doing business with North Korea," Trump said during a luncheon with the South Korean president, Moon Jae-in, and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman declined to give more details on this information, but reiterated Beijing's commitment to implement the resolutions adopted by the UN Security Council against North Korea.

Beyond the sanctions approved by the Council, Trump signed an executive order seeking to stifle North Korean finances and, he said, "significantly expands the authority of the United States to persecute individuals, companies and financial institutions that finance and facilitate trade with North Korea ".

Meanwhile, North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho said that his country could launch a nuclear-powered hydrogen bomb into the Pacific Ocean as part of the "top-level response" with which leader Kim Jong- one has warned the US.

In this regard, Lu reiterated China's opposition to North Korea carrying out nuclear programs and tests, and insisted on the need to "strictly" implement Security Council resolutions and seek solutions through dialogue.

China is Pyongyang's main trading partner and traditionally its main political support, but in recent months it has accepted the approval of harsh sanctions against the country by the UN Security Council.