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Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe
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Hard-line camp seeks to put pressure on North
Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe, a core hard-liner in his country’s dealings with North Korea, instructed Trade Minister Toshihiro Nikai to curb illegal trade between the two countries conducted via third countries. Measures to more closely monitor so-called "roundabout trade," first reported June 13 in the Japanese newspaper Nihon Geizai Shimbun, are seen as a strengthening of pressure against the North.
Even as direct trade between the two countries is in decline, illegal roundabout trade with North Korea via third countries, such as Thailand and China, has increased in recent years. If the cabinet secretary’s instructions are followed through, the Japanese government will now increase economic pressure on the communist regime by adapting a more strict interpretation of existing laws, the newspaper reported.
Roundabout trade has been hit by authorities in recent years only sporadically. In one such case in 2003, a trade company in Tokyo was caught exporting equipment to Thailand that could be diverted for military purposes in North Korea.
The newspaper noted that the effort to strengthen supervision on roundabout trade with the North is aimed at attracting the North’s concession on several pending issues with Japan, most notably the disclosure of the whereabouts of citizens Japan says North Korea kidnapped over the past several decades. However, North Korea observers say the possibility is high that such moves will instead invite strong opposition from the North.