Flake: North Korea Tests Show ‘Limits Of Economic Sanctions’ As Deterrent

UNITED STATES - FEB. 23 - Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., listens to an answer for his question during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on "The Unaccompanied Children Crisis: Does the Administration Have a Plan to Stop... UNITED STATES - FEB. 23 - Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., listens to an answer for his question during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on "The Unaccompanied Children Crisis: Does the Administration Have a Plan to Stop the Border Surge and Adequately Monitor the Children?," in the Dirksen Senate Office Building, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2016. (Photo By Al Drago/CQ Roll Call) (CQ Roll Call via AP Images) MORE LESS

Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) on Sunday said economic sanctions are of limited use as a deterrent to North Korea’s nuclear and missile tests.

“I think, given where they are, we see the limits of economic sanctions, obviously, on North Korea,” Flake said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

He said North Korea seems “intent on moving forward.”

“What we’ve been doing over the years has certainly not slowed the advance of their nuclear program. But I don’t think that harsh rhetoric does either,” Flake said.

President Donald Trump on Sunday condemned North Korea for conducting what the nation’s state-run media claimed was the loading of a hydrogen bomb into a new intercontinental ballistic missile.

Trump called it “a major Nuclear Test,” and called North Korea “a rogue nation” and “very hostile and dangerous to the United States.”

Secretary of the Treasury Steve Mnuchin on Sunday said he would “draft a sanctions package” on North Korea to send to Trump “for his strong consideration.”

“Certainly sanctions are not arresting that development either, so just about nothing we’ve done so far has helped slow it down,” Flake said. “I think that they are moving.”

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  1. Avatar for mantan mantan says:

    Hello…finally a connection. Dial tone for so long…
    If we ever get into the NK countryside we’ll see the Kims use the mind-zapped humans in their charge like coal for an oven.

  2. “What we’ve been doing over the years has certainly not slowed the advance of their nuclear program.

    Nonsense - for all we know sanctions etc. kept NK from getting nuclear advancements years sooner. It’s like a sports fans saying that a bad call in the first part of a game guaranteed that the other team was going to win.

  3. Remember: any military action will result in the deaths of millions upon millions of South Koreans. There is no military solution to the problem of North Korea.

  4. Avatar for grack grack says:

    They are going to possess nuclear ICBM capability. Period. Like many other nations with unstable leadership.

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