Officially speaking, the United States policy of “maximum pressure” is still meant to be in full force, with the implication being that North Korea faces continually mounting costs from the myriad multilateral and unilateral sanctions regimes currently in place.

But many suspected that after U.S. President Donald Trump was to shake hands with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore, DPRK sanctions regimes would never be the same again.

Over a month has now passed since the U.S.-DPRK summit and neither the United States, South Korea, Japan, European Union or the