Some Chinese bank branches, including the world’s largest, along the North Korea-China border regions have reportedly frozen North Korean accounts as far back as December, the Donga Ilbo reported on Monday.

“The Chinese bank I was doing business with recently informed me that it would not take deposits in or make cash transfers from North Korean accounts,” the Donga Ilbo’s source living in Shenyang, China said last Saturday.

The Chinese bank, whose name was not specified in the original article, reportedly froze North Korean accounts some time after February 7, the day North Korea launched its rocket.

The media