The Trump administration has accused a Chinese bank of helping North Korea to launder money and has proposed cutting the institution off from the US financial system, in a major step aimed at urging China to ramp up pressure on Pyongyang to abandon its missile and nuclear programmes.

The US Treasury designated Bank of Dandong a “foreign bank of primary money laundering concern” and sanctioned two Chinese people and one Chinese company for helping North Korea to develop nuclear weapons and violate UN sanctions.

The move — the first such action against a Chinese bank since Banco Delta Asia in 2005 — comes one week after US and Chinese officials held talks in Washington, in which the US urged China to impose more economic pain on Pyongyang. It also came hours before President Donald Trump welcomed Moon Jae-in, the new South Korean leader, to the White House for their first meeting.