Japanese lawmakers are expected to vote on a government-sponsored bill that would enable Japan's coast guard to examine cargoes carried by ships heading to or from North Korea, the Asahi Shimbun reported today (see GSN, Aug. 19).
It is believed that the Japanese government would propose its bill when the country's legislative body, the Diet, convenes for a special session on Monday. The item is expected to be approved.
"We want to pass the bill as soon as possible," Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada said Tuesday. "In light of North Korea's current stance, it would be wrong to carry over the bill to the next (ordinary) Diet session."
The ruling Democratic Party of Japan has apparently secured support for the bill from its coalition allies, the Social Democratic Party and the People's New Party.
The dissolving of the Diet's Lower House last July ended consideration of a comparable bill sponsored by the then-ruling Liberal Democratic Party. That bill would have required the permission of the vessel's captain as well as the assent of ship's home nation or flag state before any cargo could be inspected.
It is not known whether the new legislation would include the same requirements.
A U.N. Security Council resolution passed in the wake of North Korea's second nuclear test in May was the impetus for the Japanese legislation. That sanctions resolution called on U.N. states to consider interdiction of ships suspected of carrying illicit material to or from the Stalinist state (Asahi Shimbun, Oct. 22).
In Seoul, defense ministers for the United States and South Korea discussed various security situations that might arise from North Korea's continued pursuit of nuclear weapons and missiles, the Yonhap News Agency reported (see related GSN story, today).
"Details are being looked at very closely," said South Korean Defense Minister Kim Tae-young today at the end of the annual Security Consultative Meeting between the two nations.
"The ROK [Republic of Korea] and the U.S. will do all they can to make sure there are no negative affects as a result of such events to the peace on the Korean Peninsula," Kim said (Sam Kim, Yonhap News Agency/Qatar News Agency, Oct. 22).