The stainless-steel milk cans are built to carry 20 litres of liquids, which in North Korea are sometimes moved by car, sometimes by bicycle. For First Steps, they are a valuable way of getting soy milk to the daycares, kindergartens and orphanages the Vancouver-based charity supports. In 2017, First Steps bought 300 milk cans to send to North Korea.

But nearly two years later, the cans, worth US$90 each, continue to sit at their manufacturer in Wenzhou, in Southern China, blocked by the tangle of sanctions intended to cut North Korea off from the world. Last year, U.S. President Donald Trump boasted about imposing “the heaviest sanctions ever imposed on a country” in his efforts to push North Korea to denuclearize.

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