FOCUS: Much-awaited U.N. resolution passed but work for implementation remains

TOKYO, June 13 Kyodo -
The adoption of a U.N. Security Council resolution to punish North Korea over
its May 25 nuclear test was a much-awaited event for Japan, but a swift
implementation of the resolution's key measure of inspecting North Korean cargo
on high seas may not be easy for Japan, which keeps its defense troops on a
tight leash.
To ensure the effectiveness of the resolution that includes additional
financial sanctions, Japan is also expected to step up diplomatic efforts to
secure cooperation from countries such as China, a major ally of the North
which has opposed the imposition of tough sanctions on Pyongyang.
Despite the prolonged negotiations over the resolution and the failure to make
cargo inspections mandatory, as proposed by Japan and the United States,
Japanese officials still appeared satisfied with the outcome.
''It's a strong and harsh message to North Korea. Now the focus is on how each
country will act (based on the resolution), even if there is a tough reaction
from North Korea in response,'' a senior Foreign Ministry official said Friday.
The Security Council resolution, adopted Friday in New York, ''calls upon''
U.N. member states to inspect all cargo to and from North Korea in their
territories, including seaports and airports, if the concerned state has
''information that provides reasonable grounds'' to believe that such cargo
contains nuclear and missile-related items.
It also calls for member states to inspect suspicious North Korean-related
vessels, with the consent of the flag state, on the high seas.
But Japan may find it difficult to implement inspections on the high seas
without new legislation.
''The measure is not a so-called obligation but a request...(But) the Japanese
government has to respond to such a request,'' Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo
Kawamura said earlier, expressing the government's willingness to consider new
legislation.
Japan's Self-Defense Forces can inspect cargo on high seas under certain laws
in a situation that the government deems an armed attack or a situation that
could develop into a direct armed attack against Japan if left unaddressed.
But many believe that North Korea's second nuclear test on May 25 is unlikely
to be defined as posing such threats.
The SDF's activities, especially in regard to overseas deployments, are a
sensitive issue under Japan's war-renouncing Constitution.
Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada on Friday stressed that the SDF is not
thinking to ''go outside actively'' and that the Japan Coast Guard should
mainly engage in the inspections.
The Japan Coast Guard can inspect vessels for purposes such as crime prevention
and maritime security, but such activities should basically be conducted within
Japan's territorial waters.
As one option for the new legislation, which the government has started
considering, the SDF may be allowed to inspect vessels that are carrying
nuclear and missile-related items, without acknowledgment that circumstances in
the vicinity of Japan pose a serious threat to the nation's peace and security.
Also behind the move is a feeling among some ruling Liberal Democratic Party
lawmakers that not joining the inspections would be a problem from the
standpoint of Japan's international standing, given that the country tried to
spearhead tougher sanctions during U.N. negotiations.
But with the current Diet session due to end on July 28, a Defense Ministry
source said, ''Even if we start to craft legislation and hold deliberations in
the Diet, it will not be easy to seek its enactment in terms of time.''
The divided Diet, in which the opposition parties control the upper chamber,
and the House of Representatives election, which Prime Minister Taro Aso can
call anytime by the fall, is also adding to the uncertainty regarding the
prospects of enacting any such legislation.
If the Democratic Party of Japan, the largest opposition party in the
less-powerful House of Councillors, opposes the legislation, its enactment
during the ongoing Diet session may become difficult.
While DPJ leader Yukio Hatoyama said Thursday that he ''basically supports''
the idea of cargo inspections on the high seas, such a view is apparently not
shared by members of his party, with Azuma Koshiishi, leader of the DPJ caucus
in the upper house, saying new legislation is ''out of the question.''
Meanwhile, as part of its efforts to ensure the resolution's effectiveness,
Vice Foreign Minister Mitoji Yabunaka is considering visiting China later in
the month to seek cooperation, a government source said Thursday.
''How serious China is on the issue will be key. If we can't make this
something painful for North Korea, it will be just the same as the past,'' the
source said.
But a different government source admitted that a U.N. Security Council
resolution has its limits as there is no system under international law to
punish member states that do not comply with it.
''Some say that discussions on whether to use 'call upon' or 'decide' -- which
implies an obligation -- in the text of a resolution is meaningless, although
it could be said to have a political implication,'' the source said.
''Even if a new sanctions resolution is adopted, a country may not comply with
it, and then we may have to craft another resolution for that country and so
on. To be frank, there are limitations,'' he said.
==Kyodo