Japan eyes imposing more sanctions on N. Korea if missile is launched

TOKYO, March 19 Kyodo -
(EDS: ADDING INFO ON DIPLOMACY IN 6TH-10TH GRAFS)
Prime Minister Taro Aso suggested Thursday that Japan is considering imposing
additional sanctions against North Korea by itself if it launches a rocket
carrying what it claims to be a satellite.
''We will make a comprehensive decision (on how to deal with a possible
launch), with an eye to enhancing sanctions,'' Aso told the Budget Committee of
the House of Councillors.
Aso also said it is necessary to take into consideration various factors --
such as if it is really a satellite, how U.N. Security Council members will
respond and how Pyongyang will deal with the abduction issue -- in deciding
Tokyo's response to a launch.
Aso again called on Pyongyang to cancel the launch, saying North Korea ''should
not take actions which raise tensions in (Northeast Asia) and jeopardize
regional peace and stability.'' Japan and some other countries suspect it is a
cover for the test-firing of a long-range ballistic missile.
The prime minister said the government has conveyed its position to Pyongyang
through the Japanese Embassy in Beijing.
Meanwhile, Japanese officials stepped up efforts in arranging senior-level
meetings with other six-party denuclearization negotiation parties, in hopes of
securing a consensus and support for Japan's plan to seek a new U.N. Security
Council resolution against North Korea should Pyongyang go ahead with the
launch.
Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone is eyeing a meeting with U.S. Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton at the end of March on the sidelines of a U.N. conference
in The Hague, while Aso is likely to meet bilaterally with South Korean
President Lee Myung Bak and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown at the April 2
financial summit in London.
However, the biggest challenge for Japan, which holds a nonpermanent seat on
the Security Council this year, will be to win cooperation from China and
Russia. Tokyo is hoping also to arrange for Aso to meet Chinese President Hu
Jintao and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev at the London summit.
Beijing and Moscow, both permanent council members with veto power, have
apparently been showing a certain degree of sympathy with North Korea's claim
to its right to launch a satellite.
While Japan, South Korea and the United States concur that any launch by the
North, whether missile or satellite, would violate existing U.N. resolutions,
Japanese officials acknowledged that it may be difficult to win a consensus at
the council on condemning North Korea if it turns out indeed to be a satellite
launch.
A ruling Liberal Democratic Party task force compiled a proposal Tuesday for
Japan to impose additional economic sanctions on North Korea in light of the
lack of progress on the issue of the North's past abductions of Japanese
nationals.
The proposal includes such sanctions as a total ban on exports to North Korea
as well as expanding the period of extension of sanctions from the current six
months to a year.
Japan has been imposing unilateral sanctions on North Korea for some time,
including bans on port calls by North Korean-registered vessels and all imports
of goods from the country.
North Korea has informed international organizations of its plan to launch a
satellite between April 4 and 8.
Aso said Thursday the launch of the rocket is expected to be on April 4.
==Kyodo