Japan to extend ban on all trade with N. Korea by 2 years

Japan decided Friday to extend its sanctions on North Korea, including a ban on all trade, by two years amid a series of ballistic missile launches by Pyongyang, the government said.

The Cabinet of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida approved the extension before the expiration next Thursday of the sanctions, which ban trade and prohibit the docking in Japan of any vessels that have called at a North Korean port.

The decision also took into account the lack of progress on North Korea giving up its nuclear and missile programs as well as the issue of past abductions of Japanese nationals by Pyongyang.

"We will make utmost efforts to comprehensively resolve the issues concerned including the abductions, as well as the nuclear and missile programs, in close coordination with the international community," Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told reporters in Tokyo.

North Korea recently test-fired multiple ballistic missiles in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions, prompting Japan, the United States and South Korea to further enhance cooperation toward Pyongyang's denuclearization.

Japan has long sought to repatriate its citizens kidnapped by North Korean agents in the 1970s and 1980s, but no breakthrough is in sight.

Kishida has expressed his readiness to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un without preconditions, but the prospect of such a meeting remains unclear.

Tokyo imposed sanctions on Pyongyang in 2006, banning imports from North Korea and the arrival of affiliated vessels. It has since expanded the scope of the punitive measures.

© Kyodo News