Japan lodges protest over N. Korea launch, to extend, add sanctions+

TOKYO, April 5 Kyodo - The Japanese government lodged a protest with North Korea through diplomatic channels in China after Pyongyang launched a rocket late Sunday morning, condemning the act as a threat to peace and expressing regret that the country defied international calls not to go ahead with the launch.

Japan plans to extend its existing sanctions on North Korea, due to expire
April 13, by one year instead of the six-month extensions that had been made
since they were imposed in 2006, and possibly add new ones.
Prime Minister Taro Aso told reporters the launch was ''extremely provocative''
and cannot be overlooked, adding that the action is a clear violation of a U.N.
Security Council resolution banning any ballistic missile activity by North
Korea.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura said separately, ''On this occasion,
Japan will firmly press North Korea once again to take concrete action toward
the comprehensive resolution of its abductions (of Japanese nationals) as well
as nuclear and missile problems among other issues.''
Aso said at a meeting of the government's top security council, held in the
early afternoon, that it is regrettable that North Korea went ahead with a
rocket launch in defiance of Japan's repeated warnings, according to Kawamura.
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone held separate telephone talks
with his U.S., South Korean and Chinese counterparts, reaffirming with U.S.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and South Korean Foreign Affairs and Trade
Minister Yu Myung Hwan that U.N. Security Council action would be sought
against Pyongyang.
But a gap remains with China, whose Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi expressed
understanding of Japan's concerns but emphasized to Nakasone the need for a
''calm response'' to the situation. China is one of five permanent members with
veto power on the U.N. Security Council.
''Japan's stance is that a new resolution at the (U.N. Security) Council is
necessary,'' Nakasone told reporters after the phone conversations.
Kawamura said he called for U.S. cooperation with Japan's bid to seek adoption
of a resolution by the U.N. Security Council when he met James Zumwalt, charge
d'affairs ad interim at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo, at the prime minister's
office in the afternoon.
On exactly what action Japan plans to pursue in the Security Council, Kawamura
said the government would find an answer in close cooperation with the United
States and South Korea, while taking into consideration the ''opinion of the
international community.''
In New York, Japanese Ambassador to the United Nations Yukio Takasu asked the
president of the Security Council on Saturday to hold an emergency meeting on
North Korea's rocket launch, and such a meeting will be held Sunday afternoon.
The Japanese government had urged North Korea to forgo the rocket launch
regardless of whether or not it was for sending a communications satellite into
orbit, as Pyongyang had claimed, saying it could violate Security Council
resolutions banning the country from any ballistic missile activity.
After the launch, Japan lodged a ''stern protest'' with North Korea's embassy
in Beijing, condemning the act as a ''threat to regional peace and stability''
and a violation of Security Council resolutions, the Japanese Foreign Ministry
said.
The government demanded that Pyongyang immediately halt all ballistic
missile-related activities and criticized the launch as violating the 2002
Japan-North Korea Pyongyang Declaration as well as agreements reached under
six-party talks aimed at denuclearizing North Korea, the ministry said.
Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada said in a news conference that Japan will take
a ''resolute stance'' against North Korea in coordination with other countries
concerned and that it was ''extremely unpleasant'' that the rocket flew over
northeastern Japan.
Japan's Self-Defense Forces did not attempt to shoot down the rocket or debris
from it as the government had said it might in the event that any objects
appeared to be falling toward Japanese territory.
No damage to Japanese territory has been reported as a result of the launch and
nothing has fallen on Japan or nearby so far, Kawamura said.
The Japanese government is currently trying to obtain more information in
cooperation with the United States and South Korea and continuing to work to
confirm if any rocket debris has fallen on Japan.
Among the sanctions Japan has imposed on North Korea, Land, Infrastructure,
Transport and Tourism Minister Kazuyoshi Kaneko said the government plans to
extend the one banning port calls by North Korean-registered vessels by a year.
Tokyo has imposed sanctions on Pyongyang, including bans on all imports of
goods from the country, since 2006 when North Korea conducted missile and
nuclear tests in July and October, respectively.
Japan also intends to put new sanctions in place, possibly including a complete
ban on exports to North Korea, according to government officials.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Kawamura said the government has confirmed that North
Korea launched a rocket at around 11:30 a.m. and that it passed over Akita and
Iwate prefectures toward the Pacific Ocean.
The first stage of the rocket is believed to have splashed into the Sea of
Japan about 280 kilometers west of Akita Prefecture, and the second stage is
estimated to have flown over Japan at least to a point 2,100 km east of the
country but its whereabouts have not been confirmed.
Japan's defense system ceased tracking the rocket at 2,100 km east of Japan in
the Pacific at 11:48 a.m., according to Kawamura.
The top government spokesman said, however, that it is not yet known whether
the rocket carried a ballistic missile or a communications satellite.
Although North Korea said through official state media that it successfully put
an experimental communications satellite into orbit, Internal Affairs and
Communications Minister Kunio Hatoyama said the Japanese government has not
confirmed receipt of any signals from such satellite.
North Korea announced last month it would launch a satellite sometime between
11 a.m. and 4 p.m. from Saturday to Wednesday.
Japan erroneously announced midday Saturday that a North Korean rocket launch
had taken place, only to retract the announcement minutes later. The Defense
Ministry has attributed the mistake to miscommunication within the Self-Defense
Forces.
==Kyodo