Senior U.S. officials back Japan sanctions on N. Korea

Japan Policy & Politics, May 2, 2005

WASHINGTON, April 27 Kyodo

Senior U.S. officials expressed support Wednesday for Japan to unilaterally impose economic sanctions on North Korea for failing to resolve the issue of Japanese nationals abducted by the North, according to the abductees' families and their supporters.

Joseph DeTrani, special envoy for the six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear program, and Deputy Defense Undersecretary for Asian and Pacific Affairs Richard Lawless conveyed the support in separate meetings with Teruaki Masumoto, secretary general of the Association of the Families of Victims Kidnapped by North Korea.

The families have been urging the Japanese government to adopt a tougher stance, including economic sanctions, to solve the abduction issue.

DeTrani told Masumoto that he understands the move to impose sanctions, said Masumoto, whose sister Rumiko is one of the Japanese abducted in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Lawless conveyed his ''basic'' support, according to Yoichi Shimada, vice chairman of the National Association for the Rescue of Japanese Kidnapped by North Korea, who accompanied Masumoto.

Masumoto quoted DeTrani as saying that the United States will not remove North Korea from its list of terrorism-sponsoring states unless the abduction issue is resolved, and that the U.S. position has been conveyed to Pyongyang.

Removal from the list is an underlying condition for the United States to offer economic assistance to North Korea.

As for the North Korean nuclear issue, the U.S. officials said they remain committed to resuming the six-party talks, but the next move will be to refer North Korea to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions if Pyongyang continues to refuse to return to the table.

The six-party talks -- involving North and South Korea, the United States, China, Japan and Russia -- have been stalled since the third round last June.

North Korea declared in February it possesses nuclear weapons and is pulling out of the six-party talks indefinitely.