Two U.S. senators complain of slowing sanctions on North Korea

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

WORLD NEWS MARCH 18, 2019 / 6:16 PM / UPDATED AN HOUR AGO

Two U.S. senators complain of slowing sanctions on North Korea

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two senior U.S. senators called on Monday for the Trump administration to correct a slowing pace of U.S. sanctions designations on North Korea, saying there had been a marked decline in the past year of U.S. engagement with Pyongyang.

In a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Republican Cory Gardner and Democrat Ed Markey called for a recommitment to robust enforcement of U.S. and United Nations sanctions on North Korea.

The senators, the chairman and ranking member respectively of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on East Asia, complained that the pace of sanctions designations on North Korea had “slowed considerably” in the past year of U.S. diplomatic engagement with the country.

They cited research by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies think tank saying that the Trump administration had sanctioned 182 persons and entities for North Korea sanctions violations since March 31, 2017, but only 26 since Feb. 23, 2018, “despite ample evidence of illicit behavior from Pyongyang and its enablers.”

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Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-usa-sanctions/two-u-s-senators-complain-of-slowing-sanctions-on-north-korea-idUSKCN1QZ2NE

[soryang]

1. Even conservative experts critical of North Korea say this approach is counterproductive

The truth is that Gardner and Markey don't know anything about Asian politics. It cheap way to score unearned points and get free publicity. When there is a bipartisan consensus on what needs to be done in a confrontation situation in Asia, disaster is in the offing.