8TH LD: Japan on alert, decides on additional sanctions against N. Korea

Japan Policy & Politics, Oct 16, 2006

TOKYO, Oct. 11 Kyodo

(EDS: UPDATING WITH END OF SECURITY COUNCIL OF JAPAN MEETING, INCORPORATING STORY HEADLINED 'JAPAN ANNOUNCES SANCTIONS ON N. KOREA, INCLUDING TOTAL IMPORT BAN')

Japan decided Wednesday on additional economic sanctions against North Korea, including a total ban on all imports from the country, with the nation remaining on high alert over speculation that Pyongyang may conduct a second nuclear test.

The measures decided on in a meeting of the Security Council of Japan also call for banning North Korean ships from entering Japanese ports and basically barring North Korean nationals from entering Japan, government officials said.

All three new measures will remain in effect for six months, they said.

Japan has already imposed sanctions on North Korea over its missile test-firings, effectively prohibiting remittances from Japan to 15 entities suspected of having links with weapons of mass destruction programs and banning a port call by the cargo-passenger ferry Mangyongbong-92, the only direct passenger link between the two countries.

The total value of Japan's exports to and imports from North Korea came to 21.2 billion yen in 2005, accounting for a meager portion of Japan's overall two-way trade, worth 123 trillion yen.

Japan mainly imports seafood, including shellfish and crabs, coal and matsutake mushrooms from the country.

Earlier on Wednesday, Japanese government officials were trying to verify ''unconfirmed information'' that North Korea may conduct another nuclear test the same day, following the one it claimed to have carried out Monday.

North Korea said Monday it had successfully carried out its first-ever underground nuclear test. The Japanese government has yet to confirm whether that test really took place.

''At the moment, we have no concrete signs, such as abnormality in seismic waves, and are continuing to try to confirm, with extreme caution,'' Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki said at a news conference concerning the reports of a second impending test.

Foreign Minister Taro Aso told a House of Councillors Budget Committee session, ''We are aware of information that it may be conducted during today, but no confirmation has been obtained.''

Shiozaki, when asked if there was any ''pressing information'' about a second nuclear test, said, ''We have not found such information.''

The Japan Meteorological Agency said it detected no seismic waves coming from the direction of northern North Korea in the period from 5 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. Wednesday.

Defense Agency Director General Fumio Kyuma, on the other hand, told parliament Wednesday that Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force at the current stage cannot inspect ships going to and from North Korea as required under a draft resolution proposed Monday at the U.N. Security Council.

Ship inspections are impossible for Japan as the situation has not met conditions under domestic legislation defined as a situation in areas surrounding Japan that poses a serious threat to Japan's peace and security, he said.

The House of Councillors adopted a resolution Wednesday condemning the declared nuclear test, a motion similar to one adopted by the House of Representatives on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, midair dust collected by Japanese Self-Defense Forces aircraft following North Korea's claimed underground nuclear test Monday contained no radioactive materials, a government liaison conference dealing with radioactive issues said.

The Japan Meteorological Agency said seismic activities monitored in northeastern North Korea on Monday bore many differences to a natural earthquake that occurred in the country four years ago.

Shiozaki, Japan's top government spokesman, on Wednesday urged North Korea to promptly return to six-way nuclear talks without preconditions and to honor a 2002 bilateral pact in which Pyongyang promised to maintain a moratorium on missile launches and strengthen the peace and stability of Northeast Asia.

Shiozaki's remarks came in response to words from North Korea's No. 2 leader Kim Yong Nam that whether the North will conduct more nuclear tests would depend on how the United States treats the country and that North Korea regards the 2002 Pyongyang Declaration as still valid.

Japan has ''condemned very strongly the (North's) missile launches in July as well as the nuclear announcement this time as behavior that violates the declaration,'' Shiozaki said. ''I hope it (North Korea) will do as stipulated in the declaration. It is important for it to fulfill each (promise) in the declaration.''

The stalled six-party talks involve the two Koreas, China, the United States, Japan and Russia. Shiozaki said all the participants want North Korea to return to the table soon.

Kim made his comments in a meeting with a Kyodo News delegation in Pyongyang earlier Wednesday.

It was reported to the meeting that no abnormality has been detected by Air Self-Defense Force T-4 trainer jets that were sent to check radioactivity levels by collecting dust samples in the air over the Sea of Japan and other areas.