The United States lodged a strong criticism of China for not enforcing sanctions on North Korea and said that it will step up its own efforts, as hopes fade for a last-minute breakthrough under President Donald Trump.

“I want to tell you more are forthcoming,” Alex Wong, the US deputy special representative on North Korea, said about the sanctions.

In a speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Wong said that Pyongyang has not yet taken “any concrete steps toward denuclearization” and voiced alarm over its unveiling of a massive long-range missile at a parade in October.

His assessment of North Korea is in total contrast to the statements of Donald Trump over the course of his term, who has maintained that he prevented a catastrophic war and deserves the Nobel Peace Prize.

Also read: US Treasury blacklists North Korea-Russia ‘forced labour’ groups

Wong mostly took aim at the frequent target of the Trump administration,China. He accused the country of ignoring UN sanctions that it itself voted for over its ally’s missile and nuclear programs.

“The premature sanctions relief that Beijing can’t achieve through the diplomatic front door, it is instead trying to achieve through the backdoor, by choosing not to rigorously implement its UN Security Council resolution obligations.The examples of this chronic failure are numerous, growing and worrying,” Wong said.

He said that US vessels provided information to Beijing 46 times since 2019 about North Korean fuel-smuggling in Chinese waters, and in the past year observed 555 cases of North Korean shipments of coal of other sanctioned exports to China.

China has been pushing to ease sanctions on North Korea, believing the regime should see incentives for denuclearization, and is widely seen as fearing an economic implosion of its impoverished neighbor.