Economic Sanctions against North Korea: The Wrong Way to Achieve the Wrong Goal?

Later, North Korea suffered from de facto sanctions as a result of its refusal to side with either of the two contenders in the Sino-Soviet struggle for leadership in the socialist camp. Since 1993, and in particular since its first nuclear test in 2006, the country has been sanctioned both by the United Nations and by individual countries such as the United States because of its nuclear weapons program. In the case of North Korea, sanctions aim to change the behavior of the government in a field that it regards as a key priority, so to be effective, sanctions must have a noticeable impact.4 North Korea does not publish its GDP figures or growth rates, but the report on the state budget from the annual parliamentary sessions can be used as a proxy.5 Considering that the North Korean economy is almost completely state-owned, the budget-despite omissions for strategic reasons-reflects the conditions of the overall economy. North Korea has conducted six nuclear tests, each with a higher yield, and has successfully launched intercontinental ballistic missiles. un.org/sc/suborg/en/sanctions/1718/resolutions. 3 For further discussion, see Eleanor Albert, "What to Know about the Sanctions on North Korea," Council on Foreign Relations, Backgrounder, January 3, 2018 u https://www.cfr.org/ backgrounder/what-know-about-sanctions-north-korea. 4 One of the many instances when Kim Jong-un emphasized the essential nature of the nuclear weapons program was his speech at the 7th Party Congress in 2016.