hankyoreh

Russia

Japan and the United States are considering further action against North Korea in response to Pyongyang’s rejection of United Nations Security Council resolution against the country’s activities.

While at the G8 meeting in Saint Petersburg, U.S. president George W. Bush and Japanese prime minister Junichiro Koizumi issued their own statement criticizing the North’s recent firing of a series of missiles. G8 refers to a self-named group of eight nations who have pledged to forge economic ties.

The U.S. and Japan also led the effort to have the G8 issue a statement calling for the North to return to the six-party talks on its nuclear program. The G8 nations made it clear that, in accordance with the security council resolution, they will be watching to prevent the North from getting outside help involving missile technology or weapons of mass destruction development.

Speaking on Fox News, U.S. secretary of state Condoleezza Rice noted that the security council resolution was the first regarding North Korea since 1993, when it passed a resolution calling for Pyongyang to return to the nuclear nonproliferation treaty, and hinted at the possibility there could be additional action taken as events unfold.

"They’ve got to be a little surprised at the strength of the resolution," said Rice, speaking about the North Koreans. "They’ve got to be a little surprised that the unity of the community was maintained."

The resolution "says to the North Koreans you’re isolated, come back to the six-party talks," she said.

She also said the U.S. is engaged in "other activities outside the Security Council, including checking illicit activities of North Korea through financial measures, through a proliferation security initiative denying North Korea certain kinds of materials, and we’re going to continue to do those, too." She noted that the U.S. has a "strong deterrent force" on the Korean peninsula.

The Japanese government has also begun mulling additional measures against Pyongyang at the direction of chief cabinet secretary Shinzo Abe, who led the campaign within the government there to pursue the U.N. Security Council resolution. On July 16, the prime minister’s office held the first meeting of a group of officials from the foreign and finance ministries and the Financial Services Agency. The group will be studying concrete measures that could be taken against Pyongyang, including stricter checks on goods and technology that could be employed in the production of missiles or nuclear weapons and revising foreign currency laws to more easily block money from heading to North Korea, as well as freezing Pyongyang’s assets in Japan.

Japan also plans to actively remind other nations of the resolution’s prohibition on "missile-related" funds to North Korea and encourage them to participate in existing and future measures.