N. Korea

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By Patrick Goodenough
CNSNews.com International Editor
July 18, 2006

(CNSNews.com) - Fresh from its success in pushing the U.N. Security Council towards a binding resolution condemning Pyongyang's ballistic missile tests, an increasingly assertive Japan is now preparing to impose its own economic sanctions on North Korea.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe said Tuesday officials had been instructed to begin a process that will lead to the cutting of cash remittances to North Korea.

Japan would consult and coordinate its efforts with the U.S. and other countries, he told a press conference.

Finance Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki said the purpose of the sanctions would be to put pressure on North Korea to stop developing ballistic missiles.

Remittances sent to North Korea from ethnic Koreans living in Japan amount to tens of millions of dollars a year and are an important source of foreign currency.

A ban on remittances comes after Japan's earlier decision to bar entry to Japanese ports by a North Korean ferry. The ship is a crucial lifeline for North Korea, carrying passengers and goods between the two countries, as well as remittances headed for the reclusive Stalinist state.

That decision was announced immediately after North Korea, ignoring appeals from around the globe, launched a series of missiles which landed in the Sea of Japan on July 4-5.

On Saturday, the Security Council unanimously endorsed a revised version of a resolution drafted by Japan, seeking sanctions against North Korea.

The resolution was supported by the U.S. and its European allies, and following some wrangling it won the backing of North Korea's closest allies, China and Russia, after a reference to chapter seven of the U.N. Charter was removed. The chapter can be used to legitimize military action, and the two veto-wielding permanent council members demanded that the wording be dropped.

The resolution does, nonetheless, forbid U.N. member states to cooperate with North Korea's missile or weapons of mass destruction programs.

It's also the first time since 1993 that the Security Council has managed to find agreement on a resolution targeting North Korea, an achievement attributed by some to Japan's uncompromising stance.

The Yomiuri Shimbun daily reported that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and national security advisor Stephen Hadley, in phone conversations with Abe and Foreign Minister Taro Aso, had both praised Japan for its leading role.

Japan kept up the pressure for the resolution despite criticism from China, Russia and non-council member South Korea for its stance towards North Korea.

Tokyo was in a position to push for the resolution because it currently holds one of 10 rotating, non-permanent seats in the Security Council.

It was the first time Japan had taken the initiative to present a resolution at the council, and Yomiuri commented that since joining the world body in 1956, the country had never before made its presence at the U.N. so strongly felt.

Japan, the U.S.'s second-largest donor after the U.S., has been campaigning strenuously for a permanent seat on the council. China, which nurses historical grievances over Japan's aggression last century and regards Japan as a barrier to regional dominance, spearheaded opposition to the bid.

The campaign for a permanent seat is part of a broader Japanese strategy to become a more engaged and assertive member of the international community, both in East Asia and beyond.

Under Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and encouraged by the U.S., the country has began a process of edging away from its post-World War II pacifist constitution. A decision to deploy non-combat troops in Iraq marked the first time since 1945 Japan had sent armed forces into a conflict zone.

Tokyo also stepped up security ties with the U.S. and -- with an eye to the threat from North Korea -- joined the Proliferation Security Initiative and agreed to cooperate in ballistic missile defense projects.

The prime minister is due to retire next month, and Abe and Aso are among contenders to succeed him. The two, both members of Koizumi's ruling Liberal Democratic Party, have strong views on how to face the security challenges posed by North Korea and are expected to push ahead with moves to revise the constitution.

Abe last week caused a stir by publicly raising the question of preemptive military strikes against North Korean missile sites in the event of a direct threat to Japan.

Speaking in St. Petersburg after the close of the G8 summit Monday, Koizumi said Japan had no intention of launching a preemptive attack but needed to maintain a deterrent capability and counter the notion that Japan would not fight back if attacked.

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By Patrick Goodenough
CNSNews.com International Editor
July 28, 2006

(CNSNews.com) - North Korea on Friday rejected an opportunity to meet with the U.S. and four other countries involved in talks about Pyongyang's nuclear weapons programs.

All members of the stalled six-party talks are taking part in the ASEAN Regional Forum, an annual meeting of 10 Southeast Asian nations and 15 others with interests in the region, hosted this year by Malaysia.

Hopes that the six -- the other four are Japan, South Korea, China and Russia -- might meet informally on the ARF sidelines and break the stalemate were foiled when the North Korean delegation declined to participate.

Some have been calling for the remaining five countries to continue to meet, in the hope this would add to the pressure on an increasingly isolated North Korea. But China opposed the move, fearing it would further antagonize North Korea if a meeting were held with five parties and an empty chair.

Instead, the other five countries were meeting Friday in Kuala Lumpur along with a further five countries to discuss North Korea in a forum that was expressly different from the six-party one.

The ARF is the only broad international forum outside the U.N. to which the reclusive Stalinist regime belongs, and previous meetings have provided rare openings for dialogue between North Korea and the U.S.

This time, however, North Korea has refused to budge from a stance of refusing to return to the six-party negotiations -- or even the suggested informal gathering -- until the U.S. lifts financial sanctions imposed late last year on a Chinese bank linked to its counterfeiting and money-laundering operations.

Christopher Hill, the U.S. envoy to the six-party talks, expressed regret that North Korea was not prepared to join the meeting, saying that by doing so it was not only defying the U.N. Security Council but the entire international community.

Meanwhile, the Mideast crisis threatened to sideline the issues originally expected to dominate this year's ARF-- North Korea and longstanding concerns about repression in Burma.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice flew to Kuala Lumpur after meetings in and near the Middle East, and she may return there after Friday's meetings.

The ARF includes some close allies of the U.S., as well as countries that support the Arab cause against Israel, including the host, Malaysia, which has called Israel's operation against Hizballah excessive.

Anti-Israeli sentiment has been running high among some segments of the Muslim populations of Malaysia and nearby Indonesia. A group of 20 Malaysian political parties and non-governmental organizations held protests against Rice's visit and U.S. Mideast policy.

Malaysia currently chairs the Organization for the Islamic Conference (OIC), whose secretary-general this week accused Israel of war crimes. Malaysia is planning a summit of the bloc next week to discuss the crisis.

On Thursday, Iranian foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki arrived in Kuala Lumpur on the invitation of his Malaysian counterpart.

He was due to hold talks with Southeast Asian foreign ministers on "ways to stop the Zionist regime's adventurism," Tehran's Irna news agency reported.