Pyongyang sanctions workarounds failing to soften impact

SEOUL: North Korea's illicit and highly sophisticated efforts to circumvent UN sanctions may have sought to cushion their impact, but they offer no long-term solution to the fallout of tightened economic isolation, analysts say.

Sanctions relief was top of leader Kim Jong Un's agenda for his Hanoi summit with US President Donald Trump last month, but the meeting broke up without a statement or even a lunch as the two sides disagreed over walking back Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program in exchange for relaxation.