Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Japan blocks all exports to North Korea

The Asou Naikaku (National Cabinet of the T. Aso administration) of Japan has ordered a formal global export ban on trade to North Korea (DPRK). But what that BBC report (linked) doesn't mention is that a traffic regulation has been placed on North Korean nationals *including those with Special Permanent Residency in Japan*, which will enforce the ban on exports even at the individual level. --source (in Japanese): Yomiuri Newspaper.

No mention has been made so far of blocking (the relatively small remaining) remittance allowed by individuals carrying currency, but a complete financial isolation of the DPRK is apparently somewhere in the works between the United Nations Security Council-imposed sanctions and various national initiatives to add to sanctions.

Japan also is expected to pass legislation later this month allowing participation in the Maritime Inspection regime being imposed as part of UNSC Resolution 1874, passed June 12th of this year in response to North Korea's repeated violations of UNSC 1718.

Of course, when we say stop, it isn't as if they are actually going to stop.

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