The Senate approved new sanctions Wednesday against North Korea to make it harder for the reclusive nation to access funds to develop long-range missiles and nuclear warheads. The House passed a similar measure last month.
Yet any sanctions Congress imposes are unlikely to deter North Korea, which fired a long-range rocket on Sunday and conducted a nuclear test last month in violation of U.N. resolutions. The reason sanctions are ineffective: China.
China is the financier: Most banks that North Korea uses to finance trade, imports and weapons programs work through China, said Richard Fisher, vice president of the International Assessment and Strategy Center.
“The financial wherewithal for North Korea to sustain itself runs through China,” Fisher said. “Without China participating, financial sanctions will not have a decisive effect.”
Chinese companies are fronts for North Korea: Unlike U.S. sanctions on Iran, which were partially lifted recently in return for limits to that country's nuclear program, the proposed sanctions on North Korea do not target companies of third countries that do business in North Korea.
"That's partly because it's more difficult to discover those (companies)," said George Lopez, a professor at the University of Notre Dame's Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies.
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