North Korea is supposedly in a lot of trouble for their nuclear testing, and more recently for the distinct possibility that they sunk a South Korean corvette ship. But the sanctions that were called by the UN in two separate resolutions in 2006 and 2009 are simply not being implemented by a lot fo the countries around the world. In fact, the UN report to the U.N. Security Council from the Panel of Experts on North Korea, says that 111 of the 192 U.N. member states have not submitted reports about how they are in compliance with the sanctions. It turns out that the majority of these countries are developing countries, and that the idea of sanctions is economically problematic.

"Often developing countries simply don't have the resources to implement the sanctions properly," said a Security Council diplomat to Reuters on condition of anonymity.

Remember that we are talking about supposed punishment for “nuclear tests, restricted arms deals and banned trade in technology usable in nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction…” They are supposed to have travel bans and asset freezes and no luxury goods imports. It seems that is not the case- so that may have something to do with why North Korea is not really getting the message- because the message is not really being given.

"Basically what this tells us is there's a lot more work that needs to be done to implement the DPRK (North Korea) sanctions,” said the anonymous envoy.

Still, Mark Toner, U.S. State Department spokesman, says the sanctions are proving successful, and that seizures of banned goods that North Korea was trying to transfer have happened. And that is good news.

A few things are still going on. North Korea is exporting nuclear and ballistic missile technology to countries like Myanmar, Syria and Iran. Companies are helping them. It contributes almost $1 billion to the country’s $17 billion estimated GDP, which is already feeling the cuts of South Korea stopping their handouts after the corvette incident.

All in all, the idea that North Korea is under sanctions seems to be enforced by some of the big names- the U.S., China, the EU, and Russia, but it’s far from across the board, and that means it will never be effective in the complete and devastating way that it is supposed to be. What we have is a partial implementation of a harsh and effective set of sanctions. If there were no arms or luxury deals going in or out of North Korea, they would have very little economic activity. But that won’t ever happen entirely. There will always be someone willing to buy goods on the underground market, and there will always be a state like North Korea who is willing to make and sell those goods. Hopefully the increasing amount of pressure will be enough to get North Korea back to the bargaining table- but it is clear that pressure from only the big name and richest countries isn’t enough- once again, the UN is failing in the solidarity of its approach.

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