Steve Forbes‘ latest Forbes magazine column focuses on the need for a stronger American response to North Korea’s misdeeds.

THE TERRIBLE DEATH of student Otto Warmbier at the hands of North Korea should be the catalyst for a genuine crackdown on this repugnant regime, for humanitarian and national security reasons. The Trump administration, thankfully, is taking the North Korea situation far more seriously than its predecessors. …

… [T]here are several steps the U.S. should take immediately, which would start to inflict serious economic pain on Pyongyang and put pressure on China to make good on its own pledges.

— Bar any travel to North Korea by U.S. citizens that is not explicitly sanctioned by Washington. While the State Department strongly warns U.S. citizens not to go to that odious country, that’s not the same as an outright prohibition. Remember, every dollar spent in North Korea by an American goes directly into the hands of murderously psychotic dictator Kim Jong-un to finance his nuclear and terrorist activities.

— Put North Korea back on the U.S. list of terrorist states. In a misbegotten bout of appeasement President George W. Bush removed that designation in 2008, in the hopes that doing so would induce Pyongyang to keep its promises to throttle back its nuclear and missile programs. We’ve seen how successful that Neville Chamberlain-like move has been. …

… — Start applying serious sanctions on all banks and companies that do business with North Korea. We began doing this in the early 2000s, and the sanctions were starting to be effective, which is why Pyongyang signaled the Bush administration that, if we let up, it was ready to make a deal. We backed off the sanctions, but the North didn’t change its behavior.

Any financial or commercial entity found not to be in compliance would be barred from doing any business with the U.S. That ban would cover noncomplying companies everywhere — including those in Europe and in China.