On Saturday, The UN Security Council unanimously voted to impose new sanctions on North Korea in an effort to deter the country from further developing their increasingly active nuclear missile program.
The new sanctions ban exports from North Korea including coal, seafood, iron, and more, all of which make up about one $1 billion of their $3 billion annual income.
"From the United States' perspective, we're prepared to do whatever it takes to defend ourselves and defend our allies," US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley told CNN on Sunday. Haley told the network that these new sanctions were a gut punch to North Korea and did not rule out the possibility of military involvement.
“This is a really significant breakthrough, this is a big win for the Trump administration to carry this policy forward,” GroundTruth Project founder and WGBH news analyst Charlie Sennott told Boston Public Radio Monday.
Sennott praised Haley and the UN’s ability to corral China into approving these sanctions. Historically, he said, China has been lenient on North Korean transgressions. Sennott said he sees these sanctions as a turning point, and he believes that China now understands the global threat that an unchecked North Korea could cause.
“I think that [China] is getting that this is getting out of hand,” Sennott said. "China gets that.”
Click the audio player above to hear more from Charles Sennott.
