Why New U.S. Sanctions on North Korea Could Bite

Years of sanctions against North Korea have done little to slow its nuclear-weapons program, so much so that its missiles now threaten the continental U.S. Yet many analysts still promote sanctions as the best way to deal with the threat from Kim Jong Un’s regime. Some even speculate that unilateral U.S. sanctions, imposed by President Donald Trump on Sept. 21, have a better chance of working than most of what’s come before. As one observer put it, Trump’s executive order effectively allows the U.S. to impose a full trade and financial embargo through the use of secondary sanctions, which target non-U.S. banks, companies and people who do business with North Korea. In other words, these sanctions may have real teeth.

It gives the U.S. Treasury Department the authority to block from the U.S. financial system all banks and companies that do business with North Korea. It allows the U.S. to seize the assets of any individual it deems in contravention of the president’s order. The U.S. will be able to target any North Korean citizen -- not just those named on a proscribed list -- as well as anyone engaged in trade with North Korea. The order also lets the U.S. ban ships or aircraft that have made stops in North Korea from the U.S. for 180 days.