Trump: N. Korea sanctions ‘small step,’ warns of more
From wire services
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 withthe 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 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 Mr. Kim andhis government.
“We think it’s just another very small step — not a big deal,” Mr. Trump said. “But those sanctions are nothing compared to what ultimately will have to happen.”He did not elaborate.
Despite its limited economic impact, the new sanctions succeed in adding further pressure on Pyongyang without alienating Moscow and Beijing. The U.S. needs the support of both of its geopolitical rivals for its current strategy of using economic pressure and diplomacy — and not military options — for getting North Korea to halt its testing of nuclear bombs and the missiles for deliveringthem.
Mr. 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.
TheU.N. has adopted multiple resolutions against North Korea since its first nuclear test explosion in 2006, banning it from arms trading and curbing exports of commodities it heavily relies on for revenue. That has have failed to stop its progress toward developing a nuclear-tipped missile that could soon range the Americanmainland.
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.
In one example, a North Korean ship registered in St. Kitts and Nevis was said to have sailed from China to North Korea, turning off its transponder to conceal its location as it loaded coal. The ship then docked in Vladivostok, Russia, before finally going to China to presumablyunload its cargo.
China accounts for 90 percent of North Korea’s external trade.
Susan Thornton, America’s top diplomat for East Asia, said that if the China and Russia do not cooperate on the “pressure strategy … we will use the tools we have atour disposal.”
Those tools include more sanctions.
Malaysia PM visits
Mr. Trump praised Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak for his country’s financial investments in U.S. companies during a meeting Tuesday at the White House and thanked him for helping to fight Islamic State militants. Left unsaid by either leader: anything about the massive corruption scandal swirling around Mr. Najib’s multibillion-dollar state fund.
Turks pivot to Putin
In the clearest sign of his pivot toward Russia and away from NATO and the West, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced on Tuesday that Turkey had signed a deal to purchase a Russian surface-to-air missilesystem.
The deal cements a recent rapprochement with Russia, despite differences over the war in Syria, and comes as Turkey’s ties with the United States have become strained.
Jury for Benghazi attacks
Five years after lethal attacks in Benghazi on U.S. diplomatic and intelligence facilities, potential jurors arrived Tuesday in federal court in Washington in preparation for the terrorism trial of the accused leader of theassaults in Libya.
Cuba health attacks
Two more Americans have been confirmed to be affected by unexplained health attacks against U.S. diplomats in Cuba, the U.S. said Tuesday, raising the total number of victims to 21.