CHINA/FOREIGN POLICY/NORTH KOREA/STATE/TREASURY/UN: “The U.S. soon will issue new sanctions against Chinese entities for violating United Nations sanctions against North Korea, a senior State Department official said Tuesday [7-25-17].
Susan Thornton, acting assistant secretary of the State Department’s East Asian bureau, told a Senate Foreign Affairs subcommittee the Treasury Department shortly will be targeting more Chinese entities involved in supporting Kim Jong Un’s regime.
Ms. Thornton said the escalation in economic pressure follows the failure of Beijing to take action on its own against Chinese firms and individuals the U.S. warned were in violation of the U.N. sanctions.
The U.S. is pushing the U.N. Security Council to approve fresh punitive actions against North Korea in the aftermath of a July 4 test of a new intercontinental ballistic missile with the potential to reach Alaska.
But amid complaints by the U.N.’s own experts that sanctions compliance among the institution’s member countries has been inadequate, many U.S. analysts say such a multilateral strategy has failed to put a dent in Mr. Kim’s aspirations for a nuclear weapon that can strike the U.S.”
-Ian Talley, “U.S. Readies More Sanctions Against Chinese Entities Over North Korea,” The Wall Street Journal online, July 25, 2017 08:15pm