Japan decided yesterday to extend sanctions on North Korea set last October after it conducted a nuclear test, as doubts grew over whether Pyongyang can close a nuclear reactor by a deadline this month.
The sanctions, which include a ban on imports from the impoverished communist state and which bar all North Korean ships from entering Japanese ports, will be extended for six months, Foreign Minister Taro Aso told reporters.
The sanctions were adopted last October, a move taken independently from measures the UN Security Council adopted later that month against Pyongyang for its nuclear test. Japan already had limited sanctions in place over the North's missile tests last July.
Aso said sanctions were being extended largely because of a lack of progress both on resolving the issue of Japanese nationals abducted by North Korea as well as on Pyongyang's shutdown of a nuclear reactor.
According to a Feb. 13 agreement, North Korea had 60 days to shut its nuclear facilities in return for energy aid.
North Korea walked out of six-party talks on ending its nuclear weapons program last month when the transfer of US$25 million in funds held at Banco Delta Asia (BDA) in Macau failed to go through.
"The North Koreans have not dealt with the abduction issue in good faith, and they have not dealt with the nuclear issue either, giving the BDA as a reason," Aso told reporters after a Cabinet meeting at which the sanctions decision was made.
Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki urged North Korea to show a constructive stance.
"Our fundamental stance is one of pressure and dialogue, and appropriate pressure is sometimes necessary to hold dialogue," he told a news conference.
"We of course hope for dialogue, and we urge North Korea to respond positively on both the abduction and nuclear issues," he said.
Japan's total trade with North Korea amounted to about US$180 million in 2005, about half the figure in 2002, and trade dwindled further last year.
"We thought it was necessary to continue with these measures based on a comprehensive decision on the situation surrounding North Korea, including the nuclear problem," he said.
"We urge again for North Korea to use this opportunity to demonstrate a constructive attitude toward the resolution of the abduction, nuclear and missile issues," he said.
North Korea admitted in 2002 that it kidnapped 13 Japanese citizens in the 1970s and 1980s.
Pyongyang sent five of them home later that year, but insisted the rest were dead.
Japan has demanded proof and says more of its citizens may have been taken.
It has also refused to provide energy and economic aid to North Korea or normalize relations unless progress is made on resolving the issue.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of