“Ratcheting up sanctions pressure is not like a cobra strike; it’s a slow squeeze. Some people say it won’t work, but I think we need to test this hypothesis.”

That’s what Acting East Asia Assistant Secretary Susan Thornton told members of the Senate earlier this week when asked to characterize the Trump administration’s policy towards North Korea.

Since 2016, the U.S. and the United Nations have passed a procession of increasingly strict sanctions resolutions to sever the Kim regime’s financial lifelines and alter its strategic calculus. 

But these