Lower house adopts resolution seeking fresh sanctions on N. Korea

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TOKYO, April 7 Kyodo -
The House of Representatives endorsed a resolution at a plenary session Tuesday
condemning Sunday's rocket launch by North Korea and calling for the Japanese
government to impose new sanctions on Pyongyang and for the U.N. Security
Council to adopt a new resolution.
The move came a day after Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura said the
Cabinet will decide Friday its basic guideline for new sanctions against North
Korea after Pyongyang launched the rocket despite Japan's repeated warnings
against doing so.
On Tuesday evening, Prime Minister Taro Aso hailed the adoption of the
resolution by the lower house, saying it would help ''make clear the Japanese
parliament's condemnation of North Korea's rocket launch and Japan's
standpoint.''
In line with the Diet resolution, Japan plans to intensify its efforts to seek
the understanding of fellow Security Council members, particularly China and
Russia, which are veto-wielding permanent members and are cautious about
antagonizing Pyongyang.
The Diet resolution argues that the launch constitutes a clear violation of
U.N. Security Council resolutions 1695 and 1718, which prohibit North Korea
from engaging in any ballistic missile activities, and asserts that the act
''cannot be tolerated.''
It presses the Japanese government to impose fresh sanctions on North Korea and
to beef up its efforts to ensure coordinated and concerted action by the
international community at the Security Council.
The Japanese Communist Party voted against the resolution while the Social
Democratic Party abstained from voting. Both parties said it has not yet been
confirmed whether the object launched was a missile.
The House of Councillors is expected to endorse a similar resolution Wednesday
after adjustments in order to get it adopted unanimously.
Japan's parliament adopted a similar resolution after the North's nuclear test
in October 2006.
Prior to Sunday's rocket launch, the Diet had unanimously adopted a resolution
urging North Korea to forgo its plan to launch what it claims was a satellite.
Japan and some other countries suspect the launch was a cover for testing a
long-range ballistic missile.
Japan imposed sanctions on North Korea, including a ban on port calls by the
Mangyongbong-92 ferry, after Pyongyang test-fired ballistic missiles in July
2006, and placed a ban on imports from the country following the nuclear test
in October that year. The sanctions have since been extended every six months.
Prime Minister Taro Aso said Monday evening that the government is ''basically
looking to extend its ongoing sanctions, due to expire April 13, for one year
rather than six months.''
Kawamura has said that the government is trying to set out new sanctions before
the current ones expire, while Aso said he will decide on the matter ''taking
into account what answers the U.N. Security Council will come up with.''
On Tuesday afternoon, a Liberal Democratic Party panel urged the government to
impose additional sanctions on the North, including an outright ban on exports
to the country and tighter tax rules for the pro-Pyongyang General Association
of Korean Residents in Japan, or Chongryon.
The panel also recommended that those transferring cash to North Korea from
Japan be required to notify the government if the value of the remittance
exceeds 10 million yen instead of the current 30 million yen.
Japan has yet to confirm whether the North Korean rocket carried a
communications satellite or a ballistic missile, but believes that a satellite
has not been placed into orbit around Earth as a result of the launch.
==Kyodo
2009-04-07 20:49:46