UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called on China and other members of the international community to step up efforts to enhance the human rights situations in North Korea.

Ban made the request through his spokesman Stéphane Dujarric in a media briefing at the UN Headquarters in New York on Thursday in response to Washington’s unprecedented sanctions on the North for its human rights abuses.

Dujarric said Ban has expressed concerns over the North’s human rights situations on several occasions since the release of the UN Commission of Inquiry report on human rights in North Korea two years ago.

The spokesman added that Ban expects the international community, including China, to wield their influences to encourage North Korean authorities to cooperate with international human rights mechanisms.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and 14 other North Korean officials as well as eight North Korean entities for their roles in the regime's human rights abuses.