President Trump received a ten-point recommendation about how to crack down on North Korea’s nuclear program, with particular support for the regime’s “Chinese enablers,” from a group of Senate Republicans.
North Korea tested another intercontinental ballistic missile on Saturday, as Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met at Mar-a-Lago. It’s the latest of the aggressive actions that have alarmed Japan and South Korea, as well as the United States, and led the United Nations to impose an additional round of sanctions on North Korea last year.
“As Kim Jung-un has exposed his willingness to increase ballistic missile testing with the ultimate goal of achieving nuclear breakout, the potential for this regime to attain a developed and capable intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) poses an imminent threat that cannot be ignored,” Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner wrote in the letter. “North Korea’s test of an intermediate-range ballistic missile this past weekend demonstrates advancement in fuel and launch technology, underscoring the necessity of faithfully executing the law to meet this growing threat.”
The other signatories to the letter are Sens. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Marco Rubio of Florida, Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania and David Perdue of Georgia.
The senators proposed several ways to increase pressure on on North Korea, including the placement of all banks in the country on a sanctions list, thereby “completing the cutoff of North Korean banks from the international financial system.” China allowed the latest round of sanctions to pass through the U.N. Security Council, but they have long been accused of helping North Korea avoid the full weigh of international penalties. Several of the recommendations were designed to undercut that support.
“Ensure that the Treasury Department has sufficient funds, personnel, resources, and legal authorities to expose North Korea’s money laundering network and its Chinese enablers at the earliest possible date,” they suggested. “Then, in accordance with the NKSPEA, either add their names to the list of Specially Designated Nationals and freeze their assets, assess appropriate civil and criminal penalties, or both.”
Trump’s administration may already be mulling such moves. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley took an implicit shot at China in her response to the missile test. “We call on all members of the Security Council to use every available resource to make it clear to the North Korean regime – and its enablers – that these launches are unacceptable,” Haley said Monday. “It is time to hold North Korea accountable – not with our words, but with our actions.”
Trump’s national security team has moved quickly to tighten sanctions in the early days of his presidency, punishing a recent missile test by Iran and the corruption of the Venezuelan vice president. The Iranian action policy, however, was spearheaded by White House national security advisor Mike Flynn, who resigned Monday evening following reports that he misled Vice President Mike Pence about his conversations with a Russian ambassador.
