Trump imposes new sanctions on N. Korea

Move to restrict trade adds to pressure on nuclear-armed state.

NEW YORK — President Donald Trump on Thursday ordered a widening of U.S. sanctions on North Korea in an effort to further constrict its trade with the outside world, as he presented a united front with South Korea and Japan and sought to forge a common strategy for confronting the isolated, nuclear-armed state.

A new executive order that Trump announced would target additional North Korean entities and suggested that he was still committed to economic pressure for now, rather than military action, despite his vow to “totally destroy North Korea” if the United States were forced to defend itself or its allies.

“North Korea’s nuclear program is a grave threat to peace and security in our world, and it is unacceptable that others financially support this criminal, rogue regime,” he said as he hosted President Moon Jae-in of South Korea and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan for lunch in New York. “The brutal North Korean regime does not respect its own citizens or the sovereignty of other nations.”

Trump said his new order would enhance the Treasury Department’s authority to target individuals or businesses that conduct significant trade in goods, services or technology with North Korea. It will place new limits on textile, fishing, information technology and manufacturing industries, he said, and in an effort to prevent sanctions evasion, will include measures aimed at North Korean shipping and trade networks.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un reacted defiantly, calling Trump’s Tuesday speech at the United Nations General Assembly “unprecedented rude nonsense.”

“I am now thinking hard about what response he could have expected when he allowed such eccentric words to trip off his tongue,” Kim said in a statement released by the state Korean Central News Agency. “I will surely and definitely tame the mentally deranged U.S. dotard with fire.”

North Korea has raised the temperature in the region by testing a nuclear bomb and intercontinental ballistic missiles in recent weeks. But it has withstood an array of U.S. and international sanctions for years, and it remains unclear whether the latest round will have any greater impact. Just last week, the U.N. Security Council approved a U.S.drafted resolution tightening limits on North Korean trade, although it did not go as far as the Trump administration wanted.

Some critics of Trump praised him Thursday for focusing on diplomatic pressure rather than saber-rattling. Nicholas Burns, a former undersecretary of state under President George W. Bush, said the new U.S. sanctions were “a smart move” because the latest U.N. resolution was insufficient.

“The U.S. sanctions will help to raise the cost to North Korea of its nuclear weapons buildup,” said Burns, who now teaches at Harvard. Referring to the U.N. Security Council, he added: “The Bush and Obama administrations pursued a similar path on Iran sanctions — both UNSC and American unilateral sanctions — which proved effective.”

The new sanctions came as Trump hosted Moon and Abe for a show of solidarity on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly. The most important regional player, however, was not in New York: President Xi Jinping of China. He skipped this year’s U.N. session.

Still, Trump spent an hour on the telephone with Xi earlier in the week, and on Thursday he hailed what he called a “very bold move” by China’s central bank to limit interactions with North Korea.

“That was a somewhat unexpected move and we appreciate it,” Trump said.

Abe, who has been largely aligned with Trump’s approach, offered words of support Thursday.

“Dialogue for the sake of dialogue will not produce anything,” Abe said. “The key at this moment is to exercise and apply pressure against North Korea in a robust manner. And together with Donald, we’ve been successfully demonstrating our strong will to exercise pressure against North Korea.”

Moon has been the odd man out of the three, arguing for more engagement and opposing any military action on the Korean Peninsula.

Trump has derided that approach, calling it “appeasement” and declaring that “talking is not the answer.”

No mention was made of that Thursday, however, as the president said the United States and South Korea were “making a lot of progress” together and Moon embraced Trump’s bellicose speech to the General Assembly on Tuesday.

The Washington Post contributed to this article