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The Japanese government decided to ban withdrawals and overseas remittances from accounts by organizations and individuals suspected of links to North Korea and freeze North Korean assets. The sanctions could take effect this month, the Mainichi Shimbun reported Thursday.

They will affect the 12 organizations including the Korea Mining Development Corporation (KOMID) and Tanchon Commercial Bank already sanctioned by the U.S., plus an individual and some 10 other organizations, sources said.

The measure will effectively ban any financial transactions with North Korea, though it only specifies that organizations and individuals must prove, under Japan’s Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Control Law, that their withdrawals and overseas remittances from their accounts in Japan are not related to North Korea’s development of weapons. This automatically freezes Pyongyang’s assets in Japan and also hits other overseas accounts since it effectively bans remittances to them. Japan may implement the sanctions before Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi’s term ends on Sept. 26, the daily said.

Top government officials in Tokyo say additional sanctions against the North are needed because the North is refusing to return to six-party talks on its nuclear program although two months have passed since the UN resolution condemning its July 5 missile tests. Japan imposed nine-point sanctions, including a ban on entry of the North Korean ferry Mangyongbong-92 and North Korean government officials, immediately after the tests.

The Justice Ministry also refused to allow in three members of the North Korean synchronized swimming team including the team’s captain for the World Cup, which started in Yokohama on Thursday. The rest of the North Korean team are boycotting the competition. The decision came because Tokyo suspects North Korean government officials were included in the team, according to the pro-Pyongyang General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chongryeon). Japan also told the North Korean athletes that their national flag cannot be used in the opening and awards ceremonies, sources said. The Japanese government earlier refused to issue visas to delegates from the strict atheist country who tried to attend the World Conference on Religion for Peace (WCRP) in Kyoto in late August.

(englishnews@chosun.com )