The State Department argued Wednesday that United Nations sanctions aimed at stopping North Korea’s ballistic missile regime are the toughest ever imposed, but admitted that more time might be needed before they stop the rogue nation from actually testing ballistic missiles.
State Department spokesman John Kirby confirmed that North Korea conducted another ballistic missile test this week, and said the U.S. has “concerns” that North Korea is violating a U.N. Security Council resolution.
But he implied that because the U.N. sanctions are new as of this year, not enough time has passed to allow the sanctions to work.
“They’re only three months old,” Kirby said. “And sometimes it takes a period of time before you can start to see the effect of sanctions. In fact, it often takes a long period of time.
“That doesn’t change the fact that they are the toughest ones that we’ve enacted in two decades,” he said. “It doesn’t change the fact that they do have tougher enforcement mechanisms attached to it that we haven’t seen in the past, and it doesn’t change the fact that the U.N. may still take up additional options going forward.”
Kirby confirmed reports that North Korea launched two ballistic missiles this week into the Sea of Japan. He said the U.S. is discussing the launch at the U.N., but declined to say whether the U.S. would be pushing for new sanctions.
“We are continuing to assess the situation in close coordination with our regional allies and partners,” he said. “We obviously strongly condemn these and North Korea’s other recent missile tests, which violate U.N. Security Council resolutions that explicitly prohibit launches of ballistic missile technology.
“These launches only serve to increase the international community’s resolve to counter the DPRK’s prohibited activities, including through implementing existing U.N. Security Council sanctions,” he added. “We’re raising our concerns at the U.N. to hold the DPRK accountable for these provocative actions, including the launches that just happened.”
