BEIJING (AP) — China on Sunday began a suspension of all coal imports from North Korea for the rest of the year as it increases pressure on its communist neighbor to give up its nuclear and ballistic missile programs. 
 
 The ban is in line with U.N. Security Council sanctions imposed in November in response to North Korea's fifth nuclear test two months earlier, the Commerce Ministry said in an online statement Saturday. 
 
 China had already banned coal imports from North Korea in April last year, but those restrictions allowed some imports for civilian use. 
 
 China is North Korea's largest source of trade and aid and Sunday's suspension will deprive Pyongyang of an important source of foreign currency. 
 
 Beijing has come under pressure from President Donald Trump to lean harder on Pyongyang, but Beijing says its influence is limited. 
 
 However, it has grown increasingly frustrated with North Korea's defiance of U.N. demands that it end missile tests and development of nuclear weapons. North Korea launched its latest ballistic missile test a week ago. ||||| Story highlights Beijing is Pyongyang's biggest trade partner 
 
 The UN Security Council imposed toughest sanctions yet on N Korea in November 2016 
 
 Beijing (CNN) China says it will halt all coal imports from North Korea, starting Sunday and for the rest of 2017, amid growing tensions on the Korean Peninsula following Pyongyang's most recent missile test last week. 
 
 China's Ministry of Commerce, in a public notice jointly issued with the country's customs agency Saturday, said the decision was made to comply with a UN Security Council resolution that China helped draft and pass last November. 
 
 Resolution 2321 imposed some of the toughest sanctions yet against the North Korean regime, after it disregarded an earlier UN ban to test what it said was a nuclear warhead in September 2016. 
 
 "Imports of coal produced in North Korea -- including shipments already declared to the customs but yet to be released -- will be suspended for the remainder of this year," said the statement posted on the ministry's website. 
 
 Coal is North Korea's main export and an important source of foreign currencies for its fragile economy. Most of North Korea's exported coal is shipped to China, its only major ally on the global stage.
– China on Sunday began a suspension of all coal imports from North Korea for the rest of the year as it increases pressure on its communist neighbor to give up its nuclear and ballistic missile programs, reports the AP. The ban is in line with UN Security Council sanctions imposed in November in response to North Korea's fifth nuclear test two months earlier, the Commerce Ministry said in an online statement Saturday. China had already banned coal imports from North Korea in April last year, but those restrictions allowed some imports for civilian use. "Imports of coal produced in North Korea—including shipments already declared to the customs but yet to be released—will be suspended for the remainder of this year," said a Commerce Ministry statement, per CNN. China is North Korea's largest source of trade and aid and Sunday's suspension will deprive Pyongyang of an important source of foreign currency. Beijing has come under pressure from President Trump to lean harder on Pyongyang, but Beijing says its influence is limited. However, it has grown increasingly frustrated with North Korea's defiance of UN demands that it end missile tests and development of nuclear weapons. North Korea launched its latest ballistic missile test a week ago.