Ball in the DPRK's court as effectiveness of sanctions questioned

The UN Security Council unanimously approved tough new sanctions on Saturday to punish the DPRK for its ongoing nuclear and missile programs.

The US-proposed resolution aims to eliminate one billion dollars from the country's export revenues. But are sanctions really an effective method to reign in Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions?

Professor Sung-Yoon Lee from Tufts University said, “the ball is always at DPRK”.

“One question arose is what is the life expectancy of nuclear diplomacy and UN Security Council resolutions?”

As to whether the latest toughly-worded resolution will make any impact, Sung-Yoon Lee thinks not.

However, Zhao Tong from the Carnegie Nuclear Policy Program based at the Carnegie–Tsinghua Center for Global Policy thinks “new action is not only about words, it does have teeth”.

He says sanctions “seriously undermine the DPRK's economic health” and this time there is no room for a so-called "flexible interpretation", which means it is “less likely for countries to have disputes about whether the sanctions have been implemented”.

Pyongyang's ongoing nuclear program has sparked international condemnation. /AFP Photo

Senior fellow at the Center for East Asia Policy at the Brookings Institution, Jonathan D. Pollack, thinks that talks rather than negotiations are more possible from Washington’s perspective, and that the timing of talks with the DPRK depends on the “atmosphere”.

(CGTN)