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US President Barack Obama points to the audience after his speech at a reception for Women’s History Month in the East Room of the White House in Washington DC

In a number of respects, the executive order issued by US President Barack Obama on Mar. 16 is tougher than the UN Security Council sanctions resolution against North Korea (Resolution No. 2270) or a sanctions bill that passed the US Congress in February.

That said, further administrative steps are needed to specify the targets of the sanctions before they can be implemented, and it will likely take some time before it becomes clear whether or not they will be effective.

The most striking feature of the executive order is that it enables the US to place sanctions on individuals, companies and organizations from other countries that are involved in dispatching North Korea workers overseas.

While North Korea’s sending of workers overseas had been included in the initial draft of the UN Security Council’s sanctions resolution, it was ultimately omitted after such assignments were categorized as normal economic activity.

Such a provision does not appear in the US Congress’s tougher sanctions bill, either.

“On the US end, they feel that while this clause did not appear in the bill passed by Congress, it accords with the spirit of the bill,” said a source in Washington.

Essentially, this can be seen as the US administration expressing its intention to impose its own sanctions in response to North Korea’s nuclear weapons test and its launch of a long-range missile.

However, this clause does not mean that the US will immediately slap sanctions on companies in China, Russia and Mongolia that are connected with North Korea‘s assignment of workers overseas, as a secondary boycott would.

This section of the executive order states that restrictions will be placed on the assets and property rights of companies in other countries only when they have a presence in the US. In this sense, the provision overlaps only partially with a secondary boycott.

Furthermore, this part of the executive order uses the word “may,” not “shall,”

It is unclear whether this provision will have much of an effect.

According to current estimates, between 50,000 and 100,000 North Korean workers are sent overseas, with many of them in China, Russia and the Middle East. In China, most of these workers are employed at restaurants, apparel factories and other small companies; in Russia, they work in forestry; and in the Middle East, they work in construction.

It does not appear very likely that companies in these industries would have a branch in the US or do business there.

This executive order also makes it possible to place sanctions on those involved in North Korea’s transportation, mining, energy and financial service industries and in the sale, supply, movement and purchase of metals, graphite, coal and software. These are known as sanctions on specific areas.

Considering that the sanctions bill that passed Congress included the proviso “related to weapons of mass destruction,” the executive order effectively widens the scope of the sanctions.

In the areas of transportation, energy, finance and metals, it is possible that companies from China or Russia are more closely linked to North Korea. But once again, these sanctions will apply to companies from other countries only when they have a presence in the US.

Furthermore, the US Treasury Department and State Department must specify the targets of these sanctions for them to take effect.

In this sense, these sanctions appear to have a dual strategic purpose - putting pressure on China and Russia to implement the UN Security Council’s sanctions while being held as a trump card to be played in case the situation deteriorates.

Indeed, the Treasury Department added two individuals, 15 organizations and 20 vessels from North Korea to its sanctions list on Thursday in line with the new executive order. But it did not announce any additional sanctions against individuals or organizations from China or any other countries.

By Yi Yong-in, Washington correspondent, Kim Jin-cheol and Kim Ji-eun, staff reporters

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