Much of what we know about sanctions on North Korea could soon become obsolete.

For the most part, governments and multilateral institutions have deliberately not imposed strict measures. At the same time, enforcement efforts have, for various reasons, been less than rigorous.

As a result, most observers believe punitive policies are not effective. As Andrei Lankov of Kookmin University flatly declared about a week ago on this site, “North Korea sanctions don’t work.”

The attitudes underpinning current policy choices are changing, however, and these changes will, in all probability, lead to substantially more coercive measures imposed on Pyongyang in