Obama OKs new sanctions against NKorea over nuclear program

This photo combination shows U.S. President Barack Obama, left, and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

The law targets anyone involved with North Korea’s nuclear program, luxury goods, human rights abuses and money laundering.

The bill was overwhelmingly approved by the Senate on February 10.

“As a result of the strategic patience policy we now have North Korea testing four times an atomic weapon, they’ve violated numerous United Nations sanctions, USA sanctions by launching ballistic missile tests”, Gardner said.

Included in the sanction program is $50 million to transmit radio broadcasts into the country over five years and to assist humanitarian projects. “Achieving these objectives will require increased vigilance by the USA and the cooperation of the worldwide community, especially from China, which must stop preventing the United Nations Security Council from taking further action against North Korea”.

The report said that the missile defense system had instead only demonstrated “a partial capability against small numbers of simple ballistic missile threats”.

“It has become clear that we can not break North Korea’s will to develop nuclear weapons through existing means and goodwill”, the president said. The U.S. has also opened talks with South Korea about developing more missile-defense systems to eliminate the possibility that a North Korean missile could reach U.S. facilities.

The president retains the discretionary authority to sanction those transferring or facilitating the transfer of financial assets and property of the North Korean regime. “That is a goal that Congress stated and it’s a goal that we share”.

The legislation comes in the wake of North Korea’s launch of a long range rocket carrying a satellite and a month after its fourth nuclear weapons test.

“We are making a little bit of progress but, look, I believe at the end of the day they will come around to a strong Security Council resolution”, Blinken said.