Trump calls new sanctions on N. Korea a ‘small step’

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Tuesday new U.N. 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 U.N. Security Council’s new restrictions could further bite into North Korea’s meager economy after what Kim Jong Un’s authoritarian government says was a hydrogen bomb test Sept. 3. 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 as he met with Malaysia’s prime minister at the White House. Still, Trump said it was “nice” to get a 15-0 vote at the U.N.

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 neighbors and trading partners will be the acid test of whether sanctions work.

Briefing the U.S. lawmakers, Treasury Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing Marshall Billingslea displayed satellite photos to demonstrate North Korea’s deceptive shipping practices. He focused in particular on how it masks exports of coal that were banned in August after the North tested two intercontinental ballistic missiles.

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle who spoke Tuesday supported the U.S. pressure tactics, while voicing skepticism that North Korea could be forced to abandon nuclear weapons it regards as a guarantee of survival for the Kim dynasty.