Japan ramps up sanctions against N Korea
Japan renewed and strengthened sanctions against North Korea yesterday, but it disagreed with the US over how the UN Security Council should censure Pyongyang for its rocket launch.
North Korea says Sunday's launch was to send a satellite into orbit, but Tokyo, Washington and others call it a cover for a missile test.
Japan's Cabinet reauthorised and ramped up economic sanctions imposed on the isolated country since a 2006 missile test, by lowering the cap on remittances that must be reported and reducing the amount of money visitors can carry into the North, Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura announced.
The old sanctions, which must be renewed every six months, expire on Monday. The latest renewal is good for one year.
"North Korea forced a missile firing, the act that our country finds intolerable," Kawamura told a news conference. "The additional steps are aimed at monitoring the money flow into the North more closely."
Japan has also led the charge to reprimand Pyongyang at the UN, but it seemed to be losing support for a full-fledged resolution on Thursday, as the United States backed off. Washington is concerned such a document could take too long to approve and believes that a statement read aloud by the 15-nation council's monthly revolving president would provide sufficient legal teeth, council diplomats say.
But even if Japan and the US were to agree on an approach, China and Russia have all but ruled out allowing the council to pass anything more than a press statement that carries no legal weight.
They oppose reaffirming the council's 2006 resolution, five days after North Korea's secret test of a nuclear device, that demanded Pyongyang refrain from launching any more ballistic missiles and suspend its ballistic missile testing programme.
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