If US sanctions were not bad enough, Japan is ready to turn the screws on North Korea

TOKYO – In a significant move aimed at ratcheting up pressure on North Korea, Japan’s diet (parliament) is expected to enact on Friday the North Korean Human Rights Act, which calls for economic sanctions against Pyongyang unless progress is made on the country’s human-rights situation, including finally resolving the issue of abductions of Japanese nationals.

The proposed law – which is “99.9%” assured of passage, observers say – would require the government to impose economic sanctions against North Korea if no progress is made on the abductions and other human-rights issues. It also contains a provision calling for support for North Korean defectors.

The bill specifically refers to the possibility of invoking two laws that were revised or newly enacted in 2004. One is the Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Law, which allows the government to halt trade and block cash remittances to North Korea – or to any other country – based on its own judgment, even without a United Nations resolution calling for such sanctions.

Another is a newly enacted law that authorizes the government to ban the docking of North Korean ships or ships that have visited North Korea at Japanese ports. Among the most likely target would be the Mangyongbyon-92 Ferry, the main direct link between the two countries, running between the North Korean port of Wonsan and Japan’s port of Niigata.

For Japan, the human rights issue is simple. North Korea has a history of abducting its citizens in Japan and sending them to North Korea to teach Japanese to spies. After acknowledging that they have indeed kidnapped Japanese citizens, North Korea has done a terrible job making amends to Japan. I suspect it has to do with how North Korea is going to exploit the situation to maximize its own benefit. And now North Korea is going to pay.

And today is flag day, the birthdate of the US Army, and this

A North Korean delegation has arrived in South Korea to mark the sixth anniversary of a landmark summit between the two sides.

A large group of cheering South Koreans greeted about 140 North Korean government officials and civilians Wednesday, in the southern city of Gwangju.

About 30,000 South Koreans are expected to take part in the opening celebration later today at the city’s World Cup stadium.

Former South Korean President Kim Dae-Jung and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il’s meeting in 2000 was the first summit between the two sides since the Korean war ended in a cease fire in 1953.

That meeting led to a series of inter-Korean agreements and projects.

The former South Korean president won a Nobel Peace Prize for the 2000 summit, and his numerous other efforts to promote peace on the divided peninsula.

Perhaps it is destiny, but today is the day when a the former president of South Korea bought his Nobel Peace Prize for a cool $500 million and series of symbolic gestures that led to silence on the human rights issue. But as long as I’m around I will work for peace in Korea (the real kind not the one that gets you a Nobel).

(Via. Korea Liberator) Media + Pressure = Freedom for ten.