May 09, 2017
The Maximum Financial-Pressure Strategy for North Korea
The Trump administration has said that the maximum-pressure approach to address North Korea’s destabilizing nuclear and missile activities includes sanctions. That’s just the starting point to sever Pyongyang’s external financial ties and build leverage to reduce the risk of conflict on the Korean peninsula. The success of such an effort rests on a calculated strategy for sanctions implementation, aggressive diplomatic engagement around the measures, and a program for minimizing blowback from North Korea’s main financial enabler, China.
Here’s how to do it.
First, Washington needs the right financial tools to pressure North Korea. Contrary to what some believe, there is plenty of scope to increase the pressure. The most powerful way to do this is with secondary sanctions, measures that force foreign firms to choose between dealing with the United States or North Korea. Medium to large global firms will always choose the United States. They can’t do without access to the U.S. market or the dollar.
Read the full article at Foreign Policy.
More from CNAS
-
China's digital currency play could spell trouble for private sector, foreign industry
Podcast
Yaya Fanusie speaks to CBC Radio about the digital yuan project and its extension of China's ambitious data-driven goals. Listen to the full interview from CBC Radio....
By Yaya J. Fanusie
-
Sanctions by the Numbers
Reports
Over the past five years, the U.S. government has imposed an unprecedented number of human rights and corruption-related sanctions....
By Jason Bartlett & Megan Ophel
-
Merchant Crypto Payments: A New National Security Frontier
Commentary
Much of this steady rush into retail crypto activity is occurring without a check of the regulatory blindspots ahead....
By Yaya J. Fanusie
-
Human Rights Will Continue to Polarize Washington and Seoul on North Korea
Commentary
A deepening dichotomy between Washington and Seoul on how to engage North Korea lies under the surface....
By Jason Bartlett & Olivia Grotenhuis
