It's time to deploy the US financial system against North Korea

Washington

IN dealing with North Korea, the Trump administration should look to Iran. Specifically, it should take a page out of the Obama administration's Iran sanctions playbook and apply against North Korea the tool used successfully to bring Iran to the nuclear negotiating table - "secondary sanctions" on those who do business with the regime.

North Korea is not, by any stretch, "sanctioned out". Despite a broad set of international and US sanctions, North Korea has gotten off relatively easy, especially when compared with Iran. That is largely because the United States has historically been reluctant to impose secondary sanctions to isolate North Korea, particularly against China, the regime's principal legitimate trading partner. Certainly, the Trump administration should do its best to bring the Chinese government on board. But if China drags its feet, President Donald Trump should proceed anyway.