He will discuss “strategic coordination to address the advancing nuclear and missile threat from North Korea,” State Department acting spokesman Mark Toner said. North Korea analyst Joseph Bermudez said Pyongyang potentially has enough mobile launchers to fire at least 36 ballistic missiles of various types at the same time. Anthony Ruggiero, a North Korea expert from the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said the deployment of the THAAD system is an important development, but it doesn’t do anything to address North Korea’s ballistic missile program. “To roll it back, we need to be sanctioning more North Korean entities outside North Korea,” he said, suggesting that the Trump administration should more aggressively target international banks that do business with North Korea. The Obama administration slapped heavy sanctions on Pyongyang businesses, agencies and individuals, but most are confined to North Korea so the impact has been limited.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer March 08, 2017 00:00 UTC