Tokyo ? Japan’s Cabinet approved a new set of financial sanctions against North Korea today in response to the communist nation’s missile tests in July, the government’s top spokesman said.

The sanctions – called for in a U.N. Security Council resolution that denounced the July launches – ban fund transfers and overseas remittances by groups and individuals suspected of links to North Korean weapons programs.

“By taking these measures, we have demonstrated the resolve of the international community and Japan that is in line with U.N. Security Council resolution,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe said.

“I do not know how North Korea will respond, but I hope North Korea will accept the U.N. Security Council resolution in a sincere manner and respond to various concerns of the international community such as on their missile launches,” he said.