Japan has announced plans to extend economic sanctions on North Korea that include a ban on North Korean vessels entering Japan.

Hiroshi Nakai, the Tokyo official overseeing the issue of Japanese abductees in the communist state, made the remark in an interview with Kyodo News on Tuesday.

Tokyo is expected to convene a Cabinet meeting soon to extend the sanctions, which expire April 13th.

However, there are reports that Japan is considering reducing the sanction period from one year to six months.