Japan, to Apply Sanctions on North Korea`s Nuclear Weapons Testing

Japan, to Apply Sanctions on North Korea`s Nuclear Weapons Testing. September. 15, 2003 23:16. parkwj@donga.com.

The Yomiuri reported on September 15 that the Japanese government is determined to take steps to apply sanctions on North Korea, such as limiting personnel interchanges and prohibiting remittance, should the North test its nuclear weapons.

The newspaper explained that although North Korea is not showing immediate signs of conducting tests, the government sought to urge the North the restrain itself, considering the fact that it had shown intentions on testing its nuclear weapons at the six party talks in Beijing.

Sanction measures prepared by the Japanese government include; at the first phase, limiting personnel interchanges by disapproving entrance of North Korean ships and crew in Japanese ports; second, suspending all remittance to North Korea through Japanese financial institutions; third, playing a leading role in the UN Security Council in criticizing North Korea and applying economic sanctions.

At present, Japan is against putting economic sanctions through UN resolutions on the North, but it is now claiming that it could ask for the UN to apply sanctions on the North, since the nuclear testing would go beyond the extent to which Japan could tolerate.