Kyodo News: Japan will impose its harshest economic sanctions yet on Pyongyang over the nuclear test it conducted Monday, including total bans on the entry of North Korean ships, imports and citizens.The Cabinet agreed on the sanctions in an afternoon meeting to discuss the declared nuclear test and were formalized by the government's top security panel later in the day. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki told a news conference after the security panel meeting that North Korea's "insincere responses" to the abduction issue were among the many reasons for the decision to impose the bans. Shiozaki was referring to the unresolved issue regarding the North's past abductions of Japanese.
| “Wednesday's steps include a total ban on North Korean ships' entering Japanese ports, a ban on all imports from North Korea and the barring of all North Korean nationals from entering Japan...” |
Japan first imposed economic sanctions following North Korea's seven missile tests on July 5, including a ban on the North Korean ferry Mangyongbong-92, which plies between Wonsan and Niigata ports. In September, Tokyo also banned financial institutions from processing overseas remittances to 15 organizations and one individual with suspected links to Pyongyang's weapons program.
Early Wednesday, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called for tough sanctions after Tokyo became jittery over what appeared to be a false report that the communist state the same day had tested a second atom bomb. "We have to take considerable measures against their announcement," Abe told the House of Councilors. "I presume (Pyongyang) also expect them to be considerable as the sanctions will be imposed by my government."