The DPRK-Japan Friendship Association on Monday requested the
DPRK government not to allow Japan to participate in the six-party
talks on the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula.?
The non-governmental organization also asked the government not
to have any bilateral contact with Japan in the light of its
recently-introduced economic sanctions against the Democratic
People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).
"This is a wanton violation of international law and a grave
infringement upon DPRK's sovereignty as it is quite contrary to the
trend of the present times towards independence, peace,
reconciliation and cooperation and to the DPRK-Japan Pyongyang
Declaration," a spokesman for the organization said in a
statement.
The call came in the wake of the Jan. 29 approval by Japan's
House of Representatives a legislation covering the "amendment to
the law on foreign exchange".
The spokesman said the DPRK government had explicitly stated
more than once that it would consider any sanctions or blockade
against it as a declaration of war and would take legitimate
self-defense measures.
The spokesman warned that Japan should be wholly accountable for
all the consequences arising from its reckless behavior.
(Xinhua News Agency February 10, 2004)
