Trump should not be too eager to jump to the gun

Targeting one individual, 27 entities and 28 vessels, some of them Chinese, the United States announced on Friday what its Treasury Department called "the largest North Korea-related sanctions tranche to date". Whose failure, according to US President Donald Trump, may lead to a "phase two", which he said would be "very rough", and "very, very unfortunate for the world".

In the meantime, his administration is reportedly working on a plan to significantly intensify interceptions of ships suspected of violating the UN sanctions imposed on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, in the hope of plugging a loophole that allegedly allows Pyongyang to finance its weapons programs via maritime smuggling.

Such moves only threaten to jeopardize the current Olympic inter-Korean d��tente that has brought hopes of way out of the dangerous predicament on the Korean Peninsula, with the Republic of Korea saying on Sunday that the DPRK is willing to hold direct talks with the US. Those with an optimistic outlook will be hoping such talks happen and lead to negotiations that secure a lasting peace agreement.