Two senior administration officials said on Wednesday that North Korea was Washington’s top security concern and that sanctions enforcement on the DPRK would factor into the State Department’s own calculus for extending or relieving sanctions against certain countries.

Speaking at a Department of State press briefing, the two unnamed officials said that countries like Sudan – which are themselves under unilateral sanctions – should consider their enforcement of UN sanctions against North Korea if they want to see U.S. measures lifted.

“It is something that we are doing across the board with a range of countries,” one official said. “So