Japan blacklists two Chinese firms as part of efforts to keep pressure on North Korea
Bank of Dandong, Chinese shipping company among five organisations to face sanctions from Tokyo
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Japan on Friday slapped sanctions on two Chinese firms, including a bank accused of laundering North Korean cash, amid concerns Pyongyang is preparing for another missile test, the government said.
Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida said five entities, including two Chinese organisations, and nine individuals will be put on Japan’s blacklists in connection with ties to North Korea.
They will be “newly subject to asset freezing” and other unilateral punishment, Kishida said without elaborating or naming any of them.
“It is important to strengthen pressure so that North Korea should act towards denuclearisation,” he told reporters.
“We will urge North Korea to take concrete action towards the resolution of issues,” he said.
The Nikkei daily said among the nine organisations are China’s Bank of Dandong, a Chinese shipping firm, and a North Korean trading house dealing with coal and other commodities.
Bank of Dandong is accused of money laundering for North Korea’s nuclear and missile programmes.
The United States imposed similar sanctions on the bank as President Donald Trump said Beijing’s efforts to put the brakes on Pyongyang’s nuclear drive had failed.
Japan’s move could add fuel to its own often fraught relations with China.
Despite being major trading and investment partners, they are frequently at odds over a maritime territorial dispute and lingering tensions over Japan’s history of aggression in the first half of the 20th century.
China, which borders North Korea and is considered its only major ally, argues that negotiations are the best way to persuade Pyongyang to halt its nuclear and missile activities.
Japan has stepped up calls for further sanctions against North Korea since Pyongyang tested an intercontinental ballistic missile earlier this month in defiance of repeated UN resolutions.
The test has raised tensions in the region, pitting Washington, Tokyo and Seoul against China.
The Pentagon has picked up signs that North Korea is preparing for another missile test, a US defence official said earlier this week.
The official said the test would be of an intermediate-range missile or North Korea’s ICBM – known as a KN-20 or a Hwasong-14.
It would be the second time Pyongyang has tested an ICBM, after the July 4 rocket launch, which prompted global alarm.
