SANCTIONS JUST ONE ‘SMALL STEP,’ TRUMP SAYS

WASHINGTON President Donald Trump said Tuesday new UN sanctions “are nothing compared to what ultimately will have to happen” to stop North Korea’s nuclear march. U.S. officials showed Congress satellite images of illicit trade to highlight the challenge of getting China and Russia to cut off commerce with the rogue nation.

The UN Security Council’s new restrictions could further bite into North Korea’s meagre economy after what Kim Jong Un’s authoritarian government says was a hydrogen bomb test Sept. 3. The world body on Monday banned North Korean textile exports, an important source of hard currency, and capped its imports of crude oil.

The measures fell short of Washington’s goals: a potentially crippling ban on oil imports and freezing the international assets of Kim and his government.

“We think it’s just another very small step — not a big deal,” Trump said at the White House. “But those sanctions are nothing compared to what ultimately will have to happen.” He did not elaborate.

The new sanctions succeed in adding further pressure on Pyongyang without alienating Moscow and Beijing.

But underscoring the big questions about Chinese and Russian compliance, senior U.S. officials told the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Tuesday that effective enforcement by both of the North’s neighbours and trading partners will be the acid test of whether sanctions work.