U.S. and China Ready New Sanctions On North Korea

The UN Security Council will vote today on a new round of sanctions against North Korea, in a proposal crafted by the U.S. and China. Reuters:

The draft resolution…would sanction four entities, including the Koryo Bank and Strategic Rocket Force of the Korean People’s Army, and 14 people, including Cho Il U, who is believed to head North Korea’s overseas spying operations.

If adopted, they would be subject to a global asset freeze and travel ban, making the listings more symbolic given the isolated nature of official North Korean entities and the sophisticated network of front companies used by Pyongyang to evade current sanctions.

It is the first Security Council sanctions resolution on North Korea agreed between the United States and China since President Donald Trump took office in January.

Trump has been trying for weeks to get China to amplify pressure against North Korea, and the sanctions here seem to be the first tangible results of that effort—aside from a few mostly symbolic gestures China has made to show it is putting an economic squeeze on Pyongyang.

Separately on Thursday, the U.S. also unilaterally sanctioned nine entities for their support of North Korea’s weapons programs. Two Russian firms were among the sanctioned companies, which sparked outrage in Moscow and raised concern that Russia might veto the U.N. proposal in retaliation. Today, though, Russia announced it will not veto, while still expressing consternation over the unilateral U.S. sanctions. Assuming voting goes as expected, the whole episode certainly looks like a minor victory for Team Trump: the U.S. got both Beijing and Moscow on board with new UN sanctions, while levying unilateral ones that double as a reminder that the White House is not in thrall to the Kremlin.

That said, the sanctions are hardly a game-changer, nor are they a major departure from previous attempts to curb Pyongyang’s weapons activity. For all Trump’s dramatic promises to end the “strategic patience” of past administrations, the actual content of his North Korea policy has largely been in line with what has been tried before, including UN sanctions. Introducing new China-friendly sanctions certainly could help to pressure Pyongyang—but it will take much more than that to change North Korea’s behavior.