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Experts: Global Coalition Needed to Fully Enforce Sanctions on North Korea

Christy Lee

   WASHINGTON - To better curtail North Korea's efforts at undermining
   international sanctions, experts would like to see a global coalition
   create a coordinated enforcement agency to improve the current efforts
   to squeeze Pyongyang's economy and thwart its nuclear ambitions.

   "What we need is a multilayered coalition approach that coordinates the
   law, rules, regulations, information sharing, and enforcement" of
   sanctions on North Korea, said Joshua Stanton, a Washington-based
   attorney who helped draft the North Korean Sanctions Enforcement Act of
   2016.

   Currently, there is no single international body that can act as an
   agency to enforce sanctions on North Korea, which means U.N. member
   states are on their own to follow U.N. obligations to enforce sanctions
   on North Korea. But some states do not have sufficient skills and
   resources to comply with sanctions.

   "The closest thing we have is the U.N. Security Council 1718
   [Sanctions] Committee [on North Korea], which is, of course informed by
   the Panel of Experts," Stanton said. "The 1718 Committee is slow, and
   it's weak. The Panel of Experts is excellent but has no enforcement
   authority."

   The Panel of Experts advises the sanctions committee on North Korea on
   how best to combat Pyongyang's efforts to evade sanctions.

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