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Japan extends economic sanctions against N Korea

Japan will extend its economic sanctions against North Korea, despite some progress in talks on Pyongyang's nuclear disarmament, a top government spokesman said yesterday.

Tokyo will continue banning visits by North Korean ships and all imports from that country as Pyongyang refuses to come clean on its kidnappings of Japanese civilians, Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura said.

"There has been basically no progress in the abduction issue. We are not in a situation, objectively speaking, whereby we can stop or ease the sanctions," Machimura, a key member of new Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda's Cabinet, told reporters.

Japan imposed the sanctions after Pyongyang conducted its first nuclear test last October.

The package of measures was extended by another six months when it expired in the middle of April as a means to pressure the North to resolve a dispute over the kidnapping by the North of Japanese nationals in the 1970s and 1980s.

The punitive measures, also including a ban on visits by North Korean nationals and another on exports of luxury food items, are seen likely to be also extended by six months, the Jiji and Kyodo news agencies said.

Fukuda emphasized "dialogue" with Kim Jong-il's regime, in contrast to his predecessor who built his political career on acting tough on the North.

There remains strong public resentment in Japan against North Korea's refusal to discuss the abductions.
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