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The company were one of the last to offer flights into the hermit kingdom and have cited poor demand as the reason for the cancellation. It follows a request by Donald Trump to squeeze Kim Jong-un’s regime with growing sanctions after the refusal to relinquish its nuclear weapons and missile programs. An official in the company's Beijing-based press office, who only gave his surname as Ding, said that flights were suspended because "business was not good".

GETTY Donald Trump has called on other nations to tighten sanctions on North Korea

He declined to comment on when flights might resume. The suspension by China's national flag carrier comes shortly after a visit by a senior Chinese envoy to the city and also coincides with a US decision to put North Korea back on a list of state sponsors of terrorism. Air China flights to Pyongyang, which have traditionally operated on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, began in 2008, but have frequently been cancelled because of unspecified problems, state media has said.

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Last year, Air China halted flights seasonally for winter but resumed them in March. So far it is not selling tickets for any 2018 flights, according to Routes Online. One staff member in the company's Pyongyang office who declined to give his name told Reuters that Air China can resume the flights whenever there is enough demand and the office will operate normally even while there are no scheduled flights between Beijing and Pyongyang. Air China's Beijing-based press office declined to provide further comment.

The company cancelled some flights in April but later said that it would increase their number in May. The United States has urged China to do more to press North Korea to stop what the United States sees as belligerent defiance of UN resolutions. China's foreign ministry on Tuesday said that it hoped all parties could contribute to resolving the issue on the Korean peninsula peacefully.

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It also said that it was not aware of the Air China situation, adding that airlines made their decisions based on market needs. In a White House, press briefing spokeswoman Heather Nauert labelled North Korea a “pariah state”. She said: “Part of what this does – it further isolates North Korea. North Korea is certainly a pariah state.

GETTY Air China claimed a lack of interest is the reason for the suspension