Over 20 pro-Pyongyang Koreans from barred from re-entering Japan
PUBLISHED : Monday, 14 March, 2016, 5:18pm
UPDATED : Monday, 14 March, 2016, 5:18pm
Kyodo in Tokyo
A South Korean protester wearing a mask marches toward the US Embassy during a rally opposing the joint military exercises, dubbed Key Resolve and Foal Eagle, between the US and South Korea in Seoul, South Korea. Photo: AP
Tokyo has banned 22 people from re-entering Japan after visiting North Korea, under sanctions adopted by Japan against Pyongyang in response to its recent nuclear and ballistic missile tests, sources close to the matter said Sunday.
Measures approved last month by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government ban the re-entry of senior officials of a pro-Pyongyang group and of Korean engineers living in Japan who are suspected of involvement in nuclear and missile development, they said.
Subject to the sanctions are officials of the pro-Pyongyang General Association of Korean Residents in Japan, more commonly known as Chongryon, including its chairman Ho Jong Man, and of Korean University in Tokyo, according to the sources.
Five members of an association composed of Korean scientists and engineers living in Japan are also on the list, they said.
Japan banned the re-entry of around eight people, including senior Chongryon officials, from 2006 after a previous North Korean missile launch. But in July 2014 Tokyo rescinded the measure after Pyongyang agreed to launch a new investigation into Japanese nationals abducted to North Korea during the 1970s and 1980s and who remain missing.
Japan’s new sanctions are expected to make it hard for high-ranking Chongryon officials to travel to North Korea, where the first ruling Workers’ Party congress in 36 years is to be held in May.
Chongryon leader Ho had travelled there in September 2014 to attend North Korea’s top legislature.
Earlier this month the UN Security Council approved new sanctions against Pyongyang, amid global condemnation over North Korea’s fourth nuclear bomb test in January and launch last month of a rocket, widely seen as a pretext for testing long-range ballistic missile technology.
On February 10, Tokyo decided to revive its own sanctions on North Korea, such as prohibiting the entry of North Korean-registered ships and of some pro-Pyongyang Koreans into Japan.
In response, on February 12 Pyongyang announced it was disbanding the committee created to look into the whereabouts of missing Japanese citizens, a move their families worry will make it increasingly difficult to resolve the issue.
