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President Roh Moo-hyun on Wednesday indicated he opposes attempts by the U.S. and Japan to impose additional sanctions on North Korea after a U.N. Security Council resolution condemning Pyongyang¡¯s missile tests. Roh said ¡°oversensitive reactions¡± to North Korea¡¯s missile launches on July 5 ¡°will create unnecessary tension and confrontations on the Korean Peninsula and do not help resolve the problem.¡± The remarks came at a meeting with ministers in security-related portfolios. But in his remarks on the issue, the president also denounced the missile tests as a threat to peace and a trigger to an arms race.
During a visit earlier this week, the U.S. Treasury Department's Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Stuart Levey told Seoul his government plans to revive economic sanctions against Pyongyang eased under the Clinton administration. In 2000, the U.S. eased sanctions conditional on the North¡¯s observation of a moratorium on long-range missile tests, which allowed the North to import and export products except so-called ¡°strategic goods¡±, attract foreign investment in agriculture, mining, tourism and receive financial transfers from the U.S. North Korea imported goods worth US$23.75 million from the U.S. and exported products worth $1.5 million there in 2004.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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