U.S. TRIES TO PUT SQUEEZE ON N. KOREA
Tillerson goes to U.N. seeking tougher sanctions as president warns of ‘major, major conflict’
@orendorell USA TODAY
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson urged the United Nations Security Council on Friday to impose new sanctions against North Korea to stop its nuclear threat, warning that failure to act would be “catastrophic.”
Tillerson said the world community needs to increase North Korea’s financial isolation and tighten sanctions already in place. He said the U.S. would not hesitate to sanction other countries that support North Korea’s illegal efforts to develop nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles, adding that he looked forward to further action by China, North Korea’s patron.
President Trump told Reuters on Thursday a “major, major conflict” with North Korea is a possibility for the U.S., but the White House is trying to come up with diplomatic solutions.
Some of those solutions:
ENFORCE CURRENT SANCTIONS
Tighten enforcement of existing U.N. Security Council sanctions. The latest sanctions resolution passed by world powers in November was touted as the strongest ever, but the State Department and analysts say those measures have yet to be fully enforced. The sanctions limit North Korea’s sale of conventional weapons, coal and iron ore, especially if revenue would benefit its nuclear or ballistic missile programs.
“China and other countries in Africa and Southeast Asia are plainly not implementing all these sanctions,” said Anthony Ruggiero, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a think tank in Washington.
Some of those countries need