The assessment comes as the US pushes for stricter controls following North Korea’s test this month of an intercontinental ballistic missile
A lack of coordination between the European Union and the United States can undermine sanctions against rogue nations, said a new report from the Royal United Services Institute, a British research group.
The report’s authors also called for improved guidance for the private sector in implementing the penalties.
The assessment came as the United States pushes for stricter controls following North Korea’s test earlier this month of an intercontinental ballistic missile. Washington wants new sanctions against both Pyongyang and the foreign firms, most of them Chinese, that it says provide North Korea with an economic lifeline.
“We intend to present these firms with a clear choice. You can do business with us or you can do business with North Korea, but you cannot do business with both, ” Democrat Senator Chris Van Hollen told reporters Wednesday after presenting a bipartisan bill in Washington.
The fragmented nature of international sanctions, which are enforced separately by the United Nations, U. S. and EU, renders them less effective against Pyongyang, argued report author Emil Dall.
“North Korea relies on a complex network of overseas front companies, shell companies, agents that are acting on behalf of the North Korean regime — people that are simply not captured on sanctions lists, ” he said.
