"A problem with all sanctions efforts is that they're never air-tight, and North Korea and its supporters are adept and well-practiced at circumventing them. Simply adding new sanctions without tougher enforcement won't do much," said Matthew Waxman, faculty chair of the program on Law and National Security at Columbia Law School.
"However, secondary sanctions, by directly punishing those who do business with North Korea, could significantly tighten the economic screws," Waxman said.
Some analysts believe that the report itself can serve a purpose in "naming and shaming" the countries involved. Hagar Hajjar Chemali, who was spokesperson at the U.S. Treasury Department, told CBS News that "naming unleashes market forces and tells investors in countries cited that there is a high risk," which serves as "natural enforcement."
Ambassadors involved in the U.N. negotiations on North Korea see secondary sanctions as an alternative to military action.
"The U.K wants a robust further sanctions resolution to give a chance for diplomacy to end this crisis," British Ambassador Matthew Rycroft told CBS News.
Despite holes in enforcement, France's Ambassador Francois Delattre told CBS News, "the stronger the sanctions we impose on North Korea, the stronger our hand in promoting a political solution."