Despite China’s moves to reduce its trade with North Korea, it remains Kim’s economic lifeline. Although China has ordered North Korean businesses and joint ventures between Chinese and North Korean companies to close, U.S. officials say China can still do more to enforce sanctions against North Korea. Untangling links between Chinese and North Korean companies is the hardest task of all, researchers say. “The administration is betting that it will make China worry about sanctions enforcement in a way that they hadn’t done before and make the sanctions bite.”But China isn’t the only source of trade with North Korea. Yet OCN has been linked to North Korea’s Office 39, “a secretive branch of the government of North Korea that engages in illicit economic activities and generates revenues for North Korean leadership,” according to the U.S. Treasury.

Source: National Post March 01, 2018 13:52 UTC