VARIOUS: Japan has announces new sanction against North.Korea as Pyongyang says it sees US pressure as act of war

North Korea said on Wednesday (October 11) that it sees U.S. pressure to reign in its nuclear weapons programme as a declaration of war. The North's KCNA news agency, renowned for blustering anti-U.S. rhetoric, said pressure from Washington to rein in its nuclear programme would be tantamount to a declaration of war. North Korea is prepared for both dialogue and confrontation, its KCNA news agency quoted a Foreign Ministry spokesman as saying. "The DPRK is ready for both dialogue and confrontation. If the U.S. increases pressure upon the DPRK, persisitently doing harm to it, it will continue to take physical countermeasures, considering it as a declaration of war," the news report said. Japan announced new sanctions against North Korea on Wednesday in response to its reported nuclear test on Monday (October 9). "We ban all North Korean vessels from entering Japanese ports. Second we impose full sanctions on all imports from North Korea," announced Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki following a meeting of the National Security Council. "Depending on the attitude of North Korea we are ready to impose more sanctions if need be," he added. Tokyo has also been pressing for U.N. sanctions against Pyongyang, and the Security Council is likely to make a decision by Friday. A broad consensus appears to be building but some reservations have been expressed by China and Russia, North Korea's largest trading partners. There were fears, later discounted, that Pyongyang might conduct another test on Wednesday. Experts have been unable so far to confirm that the earth tremor detected on Monday was indeed a nuclear test. U.S. envoy to Japan Thomas Schieffer said they might never be able to do so. Tokyo's sanctions include excluding all North Korean ships from Japanese ports and banning all two-way trade. Any measures announced would be in addition to some sanctions announced by Japan after North Korea tested a flurry of missiles in July. Those included a six-month ban on visits by a North Korean ferry, the Mangyongbong-92. However experts say Japanese sanctions will have little effect without similar action by China. Lee Young-Hwa, a Kansai University professor who has helped North Korean defectors for years, said that as much as 60 percent of North Korean citizens make livings by selling Chinese products - ranging from corn to fruits to medicines - in street markets, and that those vendors are the ones who would be most affected if China imposed economic sanctions. "Almost all the products that North Korean venders deal with are made in China. So without Chinese products coming in, they won't be able to make a living. A Chinese sanction could even cause famine in North Korea by early next year," Lee said. Trade with Japan, on the other hand, is limited to crabs, clams and mushroom imports and export of recycled trucks, buses and bicycles to the reclusive state. Lee, however, is convinced that North Korea will not be detered from further nuclear tests. "My North Korean sources say Pyongyang would carry out a few more nuclear tests by the end of this year, probably around the time the United States holds its mid-term elections. They can't do a test ten more times simply because they don't have enough uranium to do it, but they are ready to do it a few more times this year," Lee told Reuters on Wednesday. "No matter how much international efforts are to be made, North Korea will definitely keep at least one or two nuclear bombs for self-defense. So a nuclear-armed North Korea will be always there, " he added. Hundreds of South Koreans held a candle vigil on Wednesday in Seoul to condemn North Korea for its nuclear test. About 200 right wing group members, religious group leaders and Korean War veterans attended the vigil held in downtown Seoul. They held green placards that read "Against North Korea's nukes" and demanded that the North dismantle its nuclear programme immediately. "North Korea's nuclear programme is a deed that will demolish our 70 million people. Therefore we are here because we have to denounce its nuclear weapons and save our country and people," said Lee Kun-ho of the Buddhist Association for the Protection of South Korea. South Korea, directly in the firing line of the North's 1.2-million-man army, is considering whether to reign in its generous engagement policy that has provided North Korea with cash but has brought little from its neighbour in return. South Koreans were divided on Japan's decision. For former Korean War veteran Kim Jae-chan, he feared that sanctions may ignite another Korean War. "Our country can't become a battleground, we have to do it peacefully. We need to use diplomatic means, through dialogue. We can't use such actions," the 78-year-old said. Yet 68-year-old Lee Hyun-soo felt that sanctions would make isolation unbearable for North Korea and prompt the communist state to start negotiations with the international community. The United Nations chief of humanitarian operations said on Wednesday that any international sanctions imposed on North Korea over nuclear testing should not hit food aid to the impoverished country. "That food programme and the medicine distribution programmes of the Red Cross and the U.N. are of vital life-saving importance for large vulnerable groups in North Korea. I take it for granted that as one discusses sanctions against North Korea that all humanitarian assistance will be unaffected and indeed humanitarian assistance will be funded."," U.N. emergency relief co-ordinator Jan Egeland told a news conference. Egeland said the U.N. Security Council, which is debating how to respond to Monday's reported underground test in North Korea, has in the past invited his office to comment on the humanitarian consequences of sanctions and should do so in this case.

ITN Source | October 11, 2006

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