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2nd LD Writethru: DPRK suspends probe into Japanese abductees in response to sanctions

Xinhua, February 12, 2016 Adjust font size:

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) is ending investigations into Japanese abductees in the country in response to Japan's expanded sanctions against it following its fourth nuclear test and rocket launch, state media reported Friday.

The special investigation committee probing the whereabouts of Japanese nationals abducted by DPRK agents decades ago "will be dissolved from Feb. 12, 2016," said a statement carried by the official KCNA news agency.

The decision was made apparently in response to Japan's new sanctions against the DPRK adopted Wednesday following its fourth nuclear test and rocket launch.

The new sanctions include banning the re-entry from the DPRK of Japan-based foreign nuclear or missile engineers, banning ships from third countries that have visited ports in the DPRK, and banning remittances of over 100,000 yen (about 870 U.S. dollars) to the DPRK in principle, except for humanitarian cases.

These sanctions had been partially lifted under the Stockholm agreement signed between Japan and the DPRK in mid-2014, but Japan has "reneged on its commitments made in the agreement" and "made a frontal challenge to the DPRK," the statement said.

The statement also warned that Japan's hostile acts will entail strong countermeasures from the DPRK and that the Japanese government will "hold full responsibilities" for such consequences.

The DPRK acknowledged in 2002 that it had abducted 13 Japanese nationals in the 1970s and 1980s. Talks on the issue were shelved in December 2012, when the country launched a long-range missile.

Under an agreement reached in May 2014 in Stockholm, the DPRK would reopen the probe into the abductions, and in return Japan would ease sanctions against the DPRK.

In July 2014, the DPRK announced the establishment of a special investigation committee tasked with probing the fate of these Japanese nationals, who were allegedly kidnapped to become spies.

The committee, composed of about 30 officials, had four panels in Pyongyang and branches in other cities and counties across the country. Endi