Japan Using New Marine Insurance Law to Apply Pressure on North Korea

North Korean ships seeking to enter Japanese ports faced a new hurdle this week as a law took effect requiring large vessels visiting the country to have insurance against oil spills and other accidents.

Japanese lawmakers campaigning to impose economic sanctions on Pyongyang have promoted the measure as effectively banning North Korean ships, because the reclusive state’s vessels generally lack the newly mandated insurance.

Japan has refrained from outright economic sanctions amid concerns they could disrupt delicate six-nation negotiations with the North on its nuclear program. The ship ban, however, accompanies other steps Tokyo has taken to gain more leverage in the highly emotional abduction dispute.

Last year, another law was passed that effectively cut off an estimated $38 million in yearly remittances sent by Korean residents in Japan. Neither law specifically mentioned North Korea, but officials said they were drawn up with the communist nation in mind.

So far, 16 of the estimated 100 North Korean ships that call on Japanese ports each year have been certified as having acquired the necessary insurance coverage, an official with Japan’s Land and Transport Ministry said on condition of anonymity.

Japan counts for over 8 percent of North Korea’s international trade, as communist ships bring clams, crabs and other seafood to the Japanese market and take back used cars and electrical appliances. Altogether, North Korean ships made 974 trips to Japan in 2003, the ministry said.

The new law requires all foreign ships over 100 tons to be insured against oil spills, losses and other damages in order to enter.

The legislation was passed last year after an uninsured North Korean freighter ran aground in December 2002, causing an oil spill and forcing local authorities to pay $4.7 million for the cleanup.

Advocates of economic sanctions, seeking to push the North to disclose more information about its kidnappings of Japanese citizens in the 1970s and 1980s, have said the law is a way to squeeze the impoverished communist country.

“It won’t shoot down North Korea, but it will place a form of ‘pressure’ on the North, which has many uninsured ships,” the Mainichi newspaper said in an editorial.

Ichita Yamamoto, a ruling party lawmaker who heads a group of legislators studying possible sanctions, said that the new shipping restrictions are not enough because many of North Korea’s goods are shipped on Chinese ships.

“Even after (this measure) takes effect, it will not have much effect,” he said, calling for more direct sanctions.

Copyright 2005 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.