The United States Treasury department has announced new sanctions targeting North Korean shipping companies and vessels, it announced in a statement on Wednesday.

The new sanctions, which follow targeted sanctions by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on a North Korean shipping company on Monday, will hit the Chongchongang Shipping Company and Ocean Maritime Management Company (OMM), as well as 18 vessels.

The Chong Chon Gang was detained in July last year by the Panama authorities  on the suspicion that it was transporting drugs as it attempted to pass though the Panama canal returning from a trip to Cuba.

The Panamanian authorities found ammunition,