Sanctions

North Korea Sanctions Lessons

The latest United Nations sanctions imposed on North Korea Wednesday are valuable in one main way. They give the incoming Trump Administration a fresh illustration of the dodges, omissions and loopholes that have made a decade of similar sanctions ineffective.

The main new measure is a cap on North Korea’s coal exports, its chief source of hard currency, which diplomats aim to reduce by about 60%, or some $700 million annually. This could dent North Korea’s overall export revenue by about a quarter, complicating Pyongyang’s ability to fund its military. Kim Jong Un has spent some $200 million on his nuclear and missile programs this year, according to official South Korean estimates.