Swift Discusses Contrast Between Trump’s Rhetoric and Administration’s Diplomacy Towards North Korea

Partner Christopher Swift was quoted in “Trump’s North Korea Bombast Is out of Sync With Gradual Sanction’s Squeeze,” in TheStreet, about the differences between the president’s rhetoric and the deliberate diplomatic measures being taken against North Korea by the rest of his administration.

Swift was commenting on this week’s announcement by the Office of Foreign Assets Control of new sanctions on specific North Korean people and entities.

“They want to show they’re taking a gradual approach, that they’re serious about expanding the scope of these sanctions beyond North Korea itself to hit North Korea’s overseas networks,” he said. “They’re also signaling to the Chinese and the Russians and others that they’re moving in that direction and … turning up the temperature.”

The next step would be for the United States to sanction a Chinese or Russian bank or a government-controlled entity.

“If they go there quickly, it means they’re running out of rope,” Swift said. “If it takes them a while to get there or never get there, it means that they think they’re getting something from the Chinese or the Russians.”