Amid UN sanctions, Singapore suspends trade ties with North Korea

Singapore has suspended all trade ties with North Korea as the UN and the US seek tougher measures against Pyongyang, an official notice said on Friday.

Singapore Customs said commercially traded goods from or to North Korea had been banned from November 8, reports the BBC.

Offenders may be fined or jailed for up to two years.

It comes as UN sanctions were imposed after North Korea's sixth nuclear test.

Singapore was the North's eighth biggest trading partner in 2016, but that only made up 0.2 per cent of the Communist regime's trade.

The latest round of UN sanctions targeted several firms and individuals, including two businesses in Singapore.

In January 2016, a Singapore firm was fined $125,700 for facilitating a shipment of arms from Cuba to North Korea after a court found the Chinpo Shipping Co was in breach of the UN sanctions on North Korea.