Sanctions, Diplomacy, and Information

On September 3rd, 2017, North Korea detonated a nuclear device that, according to news reports, was stronger than all of its previous tests combined. This hydrogen bomb represents the latest advancement in North Korea's long-running nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missile program, which now pose an urgent threat to the United States. Moreover, the apparent speed in which these North Korean advancements have occurred are challenging the security structure across East Asia, creating dangerous instability in the region, and that instability we will likely be dealing with for decades to come. So today, this committee is going to discuss the tools that must be deployed and fully utilized to address these threats. We need to use every ounce of leverage. That leverage includes sanctions, it includes diplomacy, it includes projecting information into North Korea to put maximum pressure on this rogue regime. Time is running out. Sanctions can still have an important impact. North Korea's advanced weapons programs rely on foreign-sourced technology. Much of these programs are made outside the country. North Korea pays an inordinate amount of money, and it has to have hard currency to do it, to run this very expensive ICBM program and this nuclear weapons program. Earlier this year, Treasury sanctioned the Bank of Dandong, a regional Chinese bank. But we must target major Chinese banks doing business with North Korea, such as China Merchants Bank, and even big state-owned banks, like the Agricultural Bank of China. They have a significant presence in the United States. And if they do not stop doing business with North Korea, they should be sanctioned now.