International Community Steps up Sanctions on North Korea

The international community, led by the U.S. has been accelerating its move to contain North Korea, thereby persuading the North to abandon its nuclear development program.

Japan, a country that the North‘s economy has been highly dependent on, has increased pressure on the communist country by forbidding all North Korean ships from entering Japan‘s ports while also resuming taxes on facilities of North-friendly organizations. U.S. allies including Australia and Spain have discussed international plans to regulate trade and transportation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), all not in the North’s best interests. At the same time, Southeast Asian countries are gearing up to call on the Kim Jong Il regime to denuclearize.

Japan exerts pressure on the North

The city of Seuchiura in Ibaraki Prefecture in Japan announced on June 14 that the city has decided to suspend property tax exemption for pro-North Korean residents facilities and sent a bill to the group last month. This was the first taxation measure on the pro-North group. The action has motivated Tokyo Province and the city of Mito to also consider following precedent.

Japan‘s local authorities previously recognized the pro-North group as a quasi-diplomatic organization, representing the North, thereby exempting the group of the taxation. Recently, however, a series of provocative incidents on the part of the North, such as kidnapping Japanese citizens and developing nuclear weapons has aggravated relations between the North and Japan and has finally upset Japan to such unprecedented taxation.

Having refused the North Korean ship, Mangyongbong‘s entry into Japan, the country has either strengthened clearance procedures or flat out denied entry to the North’s vessels. As a result, a North Korean cargo ship, the Suyangsan, after being turned away ran out of fuel, and has been anchored off the coast of Japan for the past four days.

“If inspecting North Korean ships translates into sanctions against the nation, it will bring about serious consequences”, argued the North on June 14 as reported by the Korea News Service, the official news agency of the DPRK government. “If Japan continues to hamper the North‘s sea route deliveries, we will have to take necessary steps,” it stated.

ASEAN seems ready to join containment moves

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations or ASEAN, was quoted in Mainichi Newspaper yesterday as saying that ASEAN member countries would call for the North‘s denuclearization through a joint declaration at its foreign ministerial meeting, scheduled for June 15 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Regarding North Korean issues, Japan‘s Foreign Affairs Ministry announced on June 14 that it would call upon the North to return to the Non-Proliferation Treaty at the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), which will follow the ministerial meeting, to be held from June 17 and 18.

Where other members of the international community move toward

Australia`s Foreign Minister Alexander Downer, who has recently discussed the North Korea situation in Tokyo with the U.S. and Japan, said on June 12 that it would require international cooperation to solve various issues regarding the communist country.

In an interview on the day with the Financial Times, he also said that “banning North Korean ship operations or imposing trade embargoes has yet to be decided.”

Previously, multilateral discussions were held in Madrid, Spain on June 12 where ten nations including the U.S., U.K., Poland, and Australia discussed ways to regulate North Korea’s trade and transportation of WMD. The participants agreed on the need to take more proactive steps to curb the flow of WMD and missiles out of the country.

parkwj@donga.com