Japan to decide on additional sanctions on N. Korea possibly Tuesday

TOKYO, June 13 Kyodo -
The Japanese government plans to decide as early as Tuesday on additional
sanctions to be imposed on North Korea in response to its second nuclear test
in May, government sources said Saturday.
The Cabinet is expected to approve new measures, including a total ban on both
imports from and exports to North Korea, after the U.N. Security Council's
adoption Friday of a resolution to impose a broad range of additional sanctions
on the country.
As Japan has already imposed a complete import ban, the effectiveness of a
total export ban is expected to be limited seeing that the export value is
small in scope, but Tokyo is hoping to show a tough stance on the North Korean
nuclear threat, according to the sources.
Also considered to be included in the fresh measures are the reinforcement of
restrictions on the flow of people between Japan and North Korea and a ban in
principle on the reentry to Japan of foreign residents who have violated
restrictions on trade or money transfers to North Korea and then traveled to
the country, the sources said.
Under U.N. Security Council Resolution 1718 adopted after North Korea's first
nuclear test in October 2006, Japan has prohibited exporting luxury items to
North Korea.
Japanese exports to North Korea totaled roughly 800 million yen in 2008,
according to the Finance Ministry's trade statistics.
Also in response to the first nuclear test, Japan has imposed its own
sanctions, including a ban on port calls to Japan by North Korean-registered
vessels and a total import ban.
==Kyodo