Japan has passed a law that makes it easier to impose economic sanctions on impoverished North Korea.
The Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Control Law allows Japan to impose sanctions on countries without a U-N resolution. It does not specifically mention North Korea, but lawmakers have said the bill was crafted with the reclusive state in mind.
Tokyo could use the law to take steps such as banning North Korean imports and freezing remittances from North Koreans living in Japan ? all desperately needed to help the North's devastated economy.
The upper house of Parliament approved the bill by an overwhelming margin Monday after the lower house passed it last month, prompting the communist country to demand that Tokyo be barred from future multilateral talks on its nuclear program.
After the law was passed, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said that the bill is one of Tokyo