North Korea’s illicit nuclear program is a direct threat to the United States and our partners in the Pacific. The “strategic patience” the Obama administration showed North Korea only emboldened Kim Jong Un to test nuclear weapons and new missile systems that can hit the United States.

The answer to North Korea’s threats is more pressure, not less. That’s why Chairman Royce and the House Foreign Affairs Committee have led the push for new sanctions targeting banks and businesses that provide the Kim regime a cash lifeline – a tactic that has worked in the past – including the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (signed into law in August 2017) and the North Korea Sanctions and Policy Enhancement Act (signed into law in February 2016). The international community has followed suit with multilateral sanctions.

These sanctions must be implemented fully and aggressively to send a clear message to North Korea that its threats – and its horrific human rights record – will not be ignored any longer.