The tough UN sanctions to be imposed on North Korea, the result of an accord reached by the US and China, go well beyond previous efforts. Yet if the goal is to change Pyongyang’s behaviour, they will not be enough.

Unlike the four previous sets of UN sanctions, these will, if assiduously enforced, significantly constrain North Korea’s ability to conduct business as usual and fund its nuclear and missile programmes. The sanctions contain measures that will, for example, require UN member states to inspect all cargo crossing their territory and to limit coal and iron exports. The sale of aviation and rocket fuel to Pyongyang is also banned.

These are important steps. But as China accounts for some 90 per cent of North Korea’s trade, the effectiveness of sanctions will to a large degree depend on Beijing’s willingness to enforce them. And it opposed earlier US draft resolutions.