Sanctions alone will not make Kim Jong-un give up his nukes.
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In a rare instance of successful multilateral diplomacy for the Trump administration, the U. N. Security Council unanimously approved a U. S.-drafted resolution Saturday slapping new sanctions on North Korea over its recent long-range missile tests. Even China and Russia backed the measures.
Joshua Keating is a staff writer at Slate focusing on international affairs.
If fully implemented, the new sanctions—which target coal, seafood, and metals exports; prohibit the employment of North Korean guest workers; and expand sanctions on joint economic ventures—could cut North Korea’s $3 billion annual export revenue by a third, according to U. S. officials.
That’s a big if. The AP reports that “the U. S. and other countries are deeply concerned” that North Korea’s trading partners—principally China, but also Russia—won’ t fully enforce the sanctions. China has agreed to tough measures against North Korea in the past, only to back off (or employ creative accounting to mask ongoing activity) .
From Beijing’s point of view, encirclement by U. S. military power is a bigger security threat than North Korea’s nukes, and Chinese leaders are unlikely to put enough pressure on North Korea to risk the collapse of a valuable buffer state. Sebastian Gorka’s confidence notwithstanding, Trump’s tweets aren’ t “powerful” enough to change that thinking.
The new sanctions are stronger than past measures but are still unlikely to lead Kim Jong-un to abandon his nuclear program voluntarily.
