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Japan Lawmakers Agree on North Korea Bill
EFLJapanâs ruling coalition and top opposition party agreed Monday on legislation that allows Japan to unilaterally impose economic sanctions. The legislation authorizes the government to independently halt remittances, stop trade, and impose other restrictions on the flow of money and goods to and from another country. Japanese law currently only allows such steps if they are made in response to a U.N. resolution or another multinational agreement. The bill â which amends the foreign exchange law â doesnât specifically target North Korea, but was drawn up with the isolated communist state in mind. "We want to pass the bill promptly," said Jin Murai, a lawmaker from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party after meeting opposition party officials on the amendment. "We need to do so to most powerfully express the will of Japan." The LDP aims to have both chambers of Parliament approve the bill within the next few weeks. Since the billâs backers â the LDP, its coalition partner the New Komeito, and the opposition Democratic Party â together control about 95 percent of the seats in the more powerful lower chamber of Parliament, its passage is virtually assured. To win Democratic support for the bill, the LDP agreed to incorporate a provision stipulating that Parliament must approve any sanctions that are unilaterally imposed by Tokyo on another country. It is unclear whether Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi would impose sanctions once this bill is passed, but his deputy, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda, said last week that the law would give Japan the option of taking punitive measures if needed. The cooperation between Koizumiâs LDP and the Democrats on the amendment underscores the broad support in Japan for moves to pressure North Korea into addressing the matter of Japanese abducted by the communist state. North Korea acknowledged in 2002 it had kidnapped over a dozen Japanese citizens in the 1970s and 1980s to teach Japanese language and culture to its spies, confirming for the first time the suspicions of investigators and family members. But the North said most of those it abducted had since died and only provided sparse details of how, angering Tokyo. And while five of the surviving abductees have since returned to Japan, their families are still in North Korea while the two countries remain locked in a diplomatic standoff. Tokyo wants Pyongyang to send to Japan the families left behind in North Korea before it will resume talks to establish diplomatic relations and discuss providing economic aid to the impoverished country. Japan is also pushing the North to disclose more about those who allegedly died and dozens more possible kidnap victims Japan believes may be living in the North. A support group for abduction victimsâ families has pushed for economic sanctions since last year. The lawmakers involved with drawing up the bill have been some of the most aggressive backers of the families and their support group. North Korea, meanwhile, has repeatedly stated it would consider economic sanctions "an act of war." I think that the Japanese are mad. Posted by: Super Hose 2004-01-26 |
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