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U.S. eyes pressuring N. Korea with restrictions on ships: sources+(Japan Economic Newswire Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)BEIJING, April 7_(Kyodo) _ The United States is preparing to toughen its restrictions on North Korean vessels as an additional pressure tactic against the North's alleged illegal acts, on top of a series of financial sanctions it imposed last year, diplomatic sources said Friday. The new measures, aimed at countering the suspected smuggling of weapons and drugs by North Korea, will include new limits on port calls by the North Korean-registered vessels in the United States and stricter screening of their insurance, according to the sources. "The financial sanctions have been very effective," one of the sources said. "The idea behind the new steps is also to tighten the noose" around North Korea's alleged unlawful acts, the source said. North Korea is complaining bitterly about the financial sanctions the United States imposed last year on entities suspected of laundering money and counterfeiting for the North. Pyongyang has refused to return to the six-party talks on its nuclear programs until Washington lifts the sanctions. The United States, however, says the sanctions are law enforcement measures that should not be linked to the talks. Talks aimed at moving the six-party process forward are expected in Tokyo next week where the chief negotiators of the nuclear negotiations gather for the first time since the discussions stalled last November in Beijing. The top negotiators for the United States and North Korea -- U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Christopher Hill and North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan -- will be in Tokyo. According to the sources, the idea behind the new U.S. measures is similar to that of Japan's steps taken in the past two years, including a June 2004 law that enables Tokyo to ban port calls by ships deemed as a security threat to the country. Japan also imposed a tougher insurance requirement on vessels in February 2005, which made it difficult for North Korean ships that did not meet the requirement to make port calls in Japan. One of the sources pointed out the impact of the new U.S. steps will be mostly symbolic as North Korean ships that make port calls in the United States total only about a dozen a year. The United States has already informed some countries, including those involved in the six-party talks, of the plan, according to the sources. The six party talks involve the two Koreas, the United States, China, Japan and Russia. |