Japan will extend by a year economic sanctions against North Korea, including a ban on imports, and tighten oversight of fund transfers to its secretive neighbor after a rocket launch, the government said yesterday.
Pyongyang said it had put a satellite into orbit but Tokyo, Seoul and Washington consider last Sunday’s launch a thinly disguised test of a long-range missile designed to carry a warhead as far as Alaska.
The US military has said no object entered orbit.
In a largely symbolic measure, Japan will extend existing sanctions for a year and require more money sent to the cash-strapped communist country to be reported to authorities.
Sanctions previously set for six months have been extended four times since they began in 2006, with Japan citing lack of progress in talks to denuclearize North Korea and to investigate Pyongyang’s past abduction of Japanese citizens.
“We have not seen a sincere response from North Korea on the issues of abductions, nuclear programs and missiles,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura told a news conference. “We decided that additional measures were also needed, taking into consideration the overall situation after the missile launch.”
Japan’s unpopular government is under pressure to take a tough stance against North Korea after its rocket soared over Japan during its 3,200km flight.
Japan has called for a new, legally binding resolution by the UN Security Council to declare North Korea in violation of a previous resolution banning the firing of ballistic missiles.
But Russia and China, permanent veto-wielding council members, have opposed the move, unconvinced the rocket launch was a violation.
Japanese Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone told reporters he and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had agreed by telephone earlier yesterday to work together to seek a new Security Council resolution.
But UN diplomats said Washington has indicated it might be willing to accept a non-binding statement rather than a resolution, which the US fears could take too long, if one can be agreed at all.
A non-binding statement would likely be seen as diplomatic failure for Japan at home, where Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso is struggling with low voter support ahead of an election this year.
Aso was to leave yesterday for a summit of 16 Asian countries in Thailand, where diplomats say Japan will push for leaders to issue a statement about North Korea’s rocket launch.
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