WASHINGTON – The Trump administration and key Asian allies are preparing toexpand interceptions of ships suspected of violating sanctions on NorthKorea, a plan that could include deploying U.S. Coast Guard forces to stopand search vessels in Asia-Pacific waters, senior U.S. officials said.

Washington has been talking to regional partners, including Japan, SouthKorea, Australia and Singapore, about coordinating a stepped-up crackdownthat would go further than ever before in an attempt to squeeze Pyongyang’suse of seagoing trade to feed its nuclear missile program, severalofficials told Reuters.

While suspect ships have been intercepted before, the emerging strategywould expand the scope of such operations but stop short of imposing anaval blockade on North Korea. Pyongyang has warned it would consider ablockade an act of war.

The strategy calls for closer tracking and possible seizure of shipssuspected of carrying banned weapons components and other prohibited cargoto or from North Korea, according to the officials, who spoke on conditionof anonymity. Depending on the scale of the campaign, the United Statescould consider beefing up the naval and air power of its Pacific Command,they said.

The U.S.-led initiative, which has not been previously reported, showsWashington’s increasing urgency to force North Korea into negotiations overthe abandonment of its weapons programs, the officials said.

North Korea may be only a few months away from completing development of anuclear-tipped missile capable of hitting the U.S. mainland, despiteexisting international sanctions that, at times, have been sidestepped bysmuggling and ship-to-ship transfers at sea of banned goods, according toofficials.

“There is no doubt we all have to do more, short of direct military action,to show (North Korean leader) Kim Jong Un we mean business,” said a senioradministration official.

The White House declined official comment.

The effort could target vessels on the high seas or in the territorialwaters of countries that choose to cooperate. It was unclear, however, towhat extent the campaign might extend beyond Asia.

Washington on Friday slapped sanctions on dozens more companies and vesselslinked to North Korean shipping trade and urged the United Nations toblacklist a list of entities, a move it said was aimed at shutting downNorth Korea’s illicit maritime smuggling activities to obtain oil and sellcoal.

Tighter sanctions plus a more assertive approach at sea could dial uptensions at a time when fragile diplomacy between North and South Korea hasgained momentum. It would also stretch U.S. military resources neededelsewhere, possibly incur massive new costs and fuel misgivings among somecountries in the region.