Gov`t eyes N. Korean cargo inspection bill without SDF involvement

TOKYO, Oct. 22 Kyodo -
The government envisions submitting a bill to parliament to enable Japan to
inspect ships suspected of carrying banned cargo to and from North Korea, most
likely without the involvement of the Self-Defense Forces, government sources
said Thursday.
The previous government led by the Liberal Democratic Party had eyed similar
legislation but it had SDF involvement in mind. The current government is
planning to delete any reference to the SDF from its bill, which may be
submitted to the extraordinary session opening Monday, the sources said.
The Social Democratic Party, a minor coalition partner in the Democratic Party
of Japan-led government, opposes SDF involvement in such inspections. The
government is thus making final adjustments with the view to giving the Japan
Coast Guard the primary responsibility in the task.
Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said Thursday he views legislating for SDF
involvement unnecessary to enable inspections of suspected banned cargo in line
with a U.N. resolution on North Korea.
''Basically, this is about inspecting North Korean ships, so the Japan Coast
Guard can sufficiently deal with it,'' he said. ''Therefore, there is no need
to consider things about the SDF now or in the future.''
At a meeting of party executives the same day, the Social Democratic Party
approved introducing the legislation to the Diet on the grounds that it has
become clear the Coast Guard would carry out the inspections.
But DPJ Diet affairs chief Kenji Yamaoka said it may be difficult to have the
legislation enacted during the 36-day parliamentary session with other bills
expected to be submitted to the legislature.
''As a general theory, it would be extremely difficult to complete (the
legislation) during the extra Diet session,'' he told reporters after meeting
with Hatoyama and other DPJ lawmakers.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano stressed at a news conference earlier
in the day that the legislation is aimed at enabling Japan as a country
concerned with North Korea to take measures based on a Security Council
resolution punishing the country for its second nuclear test in May.
The Hatoyama government was initially reluctant to submit the bill to the
upcoming session, hoping to see if North Korea would return to the six-party
denuclearization talks as it has indicated in recent weeks.
But Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada demanded at a ministerial meeting on Tuesday
that the bill be submitted to the Diet soon to show a resolute stance toward
North Korea.
Efforts within the main opposition LDP to submit a bill on the matter to the
Diet as lawmaker-sponsored legislation also apparently helped the government
lean toward early legislation.
Meanwhile, the New Komeito party, an opposition party that previously formed a
coalition government with the LDP, indicated Thursday that it may support the
bill the government eyes submitting to the Diet.
''We devised a bill with the notion that inspections by the Japan Coast Guard
would mean policing action,'' New Komeito chief Natsuo Yamaguchi told reporters
on Thursday. ''If (the government-sponsored bill) is written along that line,
we have no reason to oppose it.''
The bill the LDP-New Komeito coalition government submitted to the Diet earlier
this year eyed enabling law enforcement authorities to inspect on the high seas
and elsewhere ships suspected of carrying banned cargo to and from North Korea,
such as nuclear-related materials.
The bill included a provision that would enable the SDF to perform patrol and
other tasks in cases where situations went beyond the Coast Guard's capacity in
conducting the inspections.
The lower house of parliament approved the bill with the support of the LDP and
New Komeito, which together held a majority in the chamber, but the bill died
in late July because the chamber was dissolved before it was deliberated in the
upper house.
==Kyodo