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Friday July 7, 2:09 PM2ND LD: N. Korea demands Japan halt sanctions, warns of consequences(Kyodo) _ (EDS: ADDING 5-6TH GRAFS)North Korea demanded Friday that Japan withdraw sanctions it has imposed on the country in reaction to Pyongyang's ballistic missile test-firings, warning the North would take "stronger measures" should Tokyo continue along its current path. Song Il Ho, North Korea's ambassador in charge of diplomatic normalization talks with Japan, said the North does not see the missile launches as violating a 2002 bilateral declaration with Japan, adding it believes it is still possible for the two countries to hold talks on their ties. "Japan has announced sanctions, but I think it is in the interest of Japan to halt them," Song said. The sanctions "would force us to take stronger physical actions" as a response, he added. Asked what those steps may be, Song said, "I leave that to your imagination." Song's news conference, attended mainly by Japanese reporters, was the first by a senior North Korean official since the country launched a series of missiles, including the long-range Taepodong-2, on Wednesday. The missile test-firings have triggered an international uproar, with countries including Japan pushing for passage of a U.N. resolution for sanctions on the North. Japan also announced a series of measures Wednesday against the missile launches, including a half-year ban on port calls from the only passenger link between Japan and North Korea, and a halt to trips to North Korea by Japanese government officials. Song said Japan's sanctions against North Korea are "unspeakable" as the country has yet to atone for its 1910-1945 occupation of the Korean Peninsula and Pyongyang should be the one imposing punitive measures on Tokyo. Japan's sanctions "could bring about devastating consequences, the entire responsibility for which would rest with Japan," he said. Song accused Japan of turning the international community against the country over its missile launching. "Japan is becoming the main driver of the missile fuss" by soliciting support for opposition against North Korea, he said. "There have been rather severe reactions from countries such as Australia and South Korea as well, but their responses have not been as persistent as Japan's," he said. Song said North Korea does not see the missile launches as violating the Japan-North Korea Pyongyang Declaration, signed by Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, which mentions a missile launch moratorium. "The moratorium was effective under the condition that Japan would atone for its past and would normalize relation with us," Song said. "But Japan has taken actions that go against that" and so North Korea is no longer bound by that moratorium, he said. Japan had urged North Korea to refrain from the missile launches, citing the moratorium agreed to between Pyongyang and Washington in 1999 and reconfirmed in the Japan-North Korea declaration. Song said North Korea is willing to hold negotiations with Japan on normalizing their relations, but indicated it first wants Tokyo to lift the sanctions it imposed Wednesday. "The sanctions include a ban on Japanese government officials' visit to our country," he said. "That means the two countries cannot hold contact. On the question of what the conditions are for resuming the negotiations, I think Japan can decide for itself." Japan and North Korea last held talks on normalizing diplomatic relations in Beijing in February. They were unable to make headway, with Japan calling for a solution to their dispute over Japanese nationals abducted by North Korean agents in the 1970s and 1980s, and North Korea demanding Japan atone for its colonization of the Korean Peninsula. Song said that to make any progress in resolving the abduction issue, Japan would have to return the cremated remains the North says are those of Japanese abductee Megumi Yokota to North Korea. The case of Yokota is one of the main points of contention between the two countries. Japan says DNA analysis has shown that the remains handed to Japan were not those of Yokota's but of two different people, a conclusion that Pyongyang rejects. "The cremated remains must be returned first," he said. "When they are returned, they must not be even one gram less than they were" when they were handed to Japan, he said. Japanese government officials have said that the cremated remains cannot be returned in the form they were received as they were used for DNA analysis. North Korea has admitted to abducting Yokota and 12 other Japanese nationals. Pyongyang says Yokota killed herself while being treated for depression but her family and the Japanese government dispute the assertion. Yokota was abducted by North Korean agents in Japan's Niigata Prefecture at age 13 in 1977. |
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