TOKYO – Japan decided Tuesday to impose additional sanctions on North Korea by freezing the assets of five more organizations over their involvement in Pyongyang's nuclear and missile development programs, top government spokesman Hirokazu Matsuno said.
The additional sanctions, approved at a Cabinet meeting in the morning, follow North Korea's repeated test-firings of ballistic missiles toward the Sea of Japan since late September, including one earlier this month that flew over the Japanese archipelago for the first time in five years.
Matsuno, chief Cabinet secretary, told reporters Pyongyang's provocations are "serious and imminent threats" to Japan's security and such "reckless actions" threatening international peace and stability are "absolutely intolerable."
"Japan urges North Korea to take concrete actions toward resolving various issues" including its nuclear and missile development programs as well as its past abductions of Japanese nationals, Matsuno said.
The abductions of Japanese citizens by North Korean agents in the 1970s and 1980s are one of the major challenges facing the administration of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Matsuno said. (Kyodo)
