Japan considers further sanctions against North Korea

May 24, 2010, 9:03 GMT

Tokyo - Japan's government is considering harsher sanctions against North Korea after the Stalinist state was blamed for sinking a South Korean warship, news reports said Monday.

Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama directed his cabinet to look into additional possible sanctions.

Japan was also to support Seoul in raising the March 26 sinking of the Cheonan corvette with the UN Security Council, the Kyodo News agency reported, quoting government sources.

Tokyo in April extended its existing economic sanctions against Pyongyang, introduced in 2006 after North Korea's first nuclear test, for another year, citing lack of progress in the international dispute over the country's nuclear weapons programme and the question of Japanese citizens abducted by North Korea in the 1970s and '80s.

The current sanctions include an import ban on all North Korean goods and the discontinuation of the only existing ferry link between the two countries.

An international team of investigators concluded that the Cheonan was sunk March 26 by a North Korean torpedo. Forty-six sailors died.

South Korean President Lee Myung Bak said Monday that his country was ready to defend itself against further 'provocations' and announced the suspension of almost all trade links with North Korea as well as a reduction of humanitarian aid to the impoverished Stalinist state to a bare minimum.