Japan will likely push forward with a bill banning North Korean ships from entering the country's ports despite progress made at Saturday's North Korea-Japan summit talks.

Under the bill, ships from North Korea would be denied entry to Japan's ports if they are deemed to pose a threat to the country's peace and security.

Japanese deputy chief Cabinet Secretary Masaaki Yamazaki told state-run NHK TV Sunday that the bill, currently under consideration by the Diet, would not target all North Korean ships, but would ban only certain North Korean vessels from entering the nation's ports.

Yamazaki's remark seems to hint that the Japanese government supports the Diet's resolve to pass the bill regardless of Koizumi's promise to conditionally lift economic sanctions against Pyongyang.

After a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said his government would not impose sanctions on the North as long as it observes the 2002 Pyongyang declarations.

The two leaders also agreed to resume talks on normalizing bilateral diplomatic relations.