Tuesday, September 19 2006 18:33 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Tokyo: Japan has decided to impose new financial sanctions on North Korea in compliance of a UN resolution adopted after the July 5 firing of seven ballistic missiles, media reports said today (Sept 19, 2006).

The new set of sanctions are being adopted because the communist state has not accepted the UN Security Council resolution, Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe was quoted as saying.

The new restrictions will target remittances and the transfer of financial assets to North Korea by those suspected of links to its weapons of mass destruction or missile programmes.

The government will require 15 financial groups and one individual, already facing similar sanctions from the US, to get permission for bank transactions for overseas remittances.

The UN resolution adopted in mid-July urged North Korea to unconditionally return to the six-party talks and suspend all missile-related activities. It also requires all UN member states to block the transfer into North Korea of financial resources, goods and technology that are related to missiles.

After North Korea launched seven ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan in early July, Tokyo immediately banned the only passenger link between Japan and North Korea - a ferry - for six months.