President Barack Obama has issued an executive order imposing new sanctions on N Korea, after its "illicit" nuclear test and satellite launch.

It freezes N Korean gov.  property in America and bans US exports to, or investment in, N Korea.

The 6 January nuclear test and 7 February satellite launch were violations of existing UN sanctions.

The order also greatly expands powers to blacklist anyone, including non Americans, dealing with N Korea.Obama's order includes measures from the recently agreed UN Security Council sanctions - the toughest sanctions in decades against N Korea. But it also contains separate sanctions passed by Congress and enacted by the president in February.

Mr Obama said the sanctions "did not target the people of N Korea" but suggested that the country's leadership only had itself to blame.