US Halts new North Korea Sanctions

As President Trump has teased a summit between him and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un could still take place, the U.S. on Monday halted new sanctions against the rogue nation, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Citing an unnamed U.S. official, The Journal reported the White House was poised to announce additional sanctions on North Korea as early as Tuesday but decided to hold off on doing so. Trump said Sunday that a U.S. delegation was in North Korea to plan for a potential meeting with Kim.

Trump called off the summit earlier this month following increasingly harsh rhetoric from North Korea. The Treasury Department had come up with new sanctions to levy on almost three dozen targets, including Chinese and Russian entities, according to The Wall Street Journal.

“The goal here is to achieve maximum pressure,” a senior administration official told the newspaper last week. “We’re still short of that.”

More