US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson says the government is “preparing” new sanctions to be imposed against North Korea, deemed a nuclear threat by the West.

Axar.az reports citing to PressTV the former ExxonMobil CEO made the comments among the State Department employees in the US capital Washington on Wednesday.

"We are preparing additional sanctions if it turns out North Korea's actions warrant additional sanctions," he said.

Tillerson further urged world states to respect UN sanctions already imposed on North Korea's nuclear weapons and missile programs, voicing willingness to use secondary sanctions against foreign companies that still do business with Pyongyang.

As tensions were running high between North Korea and the US as well as its regional allies over Pyongyang’s nuclear tests, the administration of President Donald Trump was "leaning hard into China,” in order to negotiate for stability in the volatile region, as Tillerson said after chairing a meeting of the UN Security Council on Friday.