Japan decides to impose new NKorea sanctions-NHK

TOKYO, Oct 11 (Reuters) Japan's government has decided to impose fresh sanctions on North Korea in response to its reported nuclear test earlier this week, public broadcaster NHK reported.

The decision is expected to be formalised at a meeting of Japan's National Security Council later today, it said.

Cabinet ministers had gathered at the prime minister's office but declined to comment on whether they had decided on new sanctions in addition to those imposed after North Korea fired a salvo of missiles in early July.

Japan has joined with the United States in calling for tough sanctions by the UN Security Council to pressure Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear programme, and Tokyo has also said it could impose measures of its own.

Government officials have said sanctions could include barring all North Korean ships from entering Japanese ports and banning all trade between Japan and North Korea.

Economists said the effect on North Korea of banning trade would be more symbolic than real unless Pyongyang's key trading partners such as China and Russia joined in.

''The impact from sanctions by the Japanese alone would be very small. But Japan cannot do nothing, because it faces the biggest threat, and sanctions would have a political meaning,'' said Mitsuhiko Kimura, an economics professor at Aoyama Gakuin University in Tokyo.

Japan's total trade with North Korea amounted to about 0 million in 2005, about half the figure in 2002, and trade is thinning further this year, according to Finance Ministry data.

Coal and matsutake mushrooms top the list of Japan's imports from North Korea, while cars, trucks and buses account for a big chunk of Japan's exports to the impoverished country.

Sanctions imposed in July included a ban on visits of the Mangyongbong-92, a North Korean ferry, for six months.

The ferry, the only regular direct link between Japan and North Korea, had long been suspected to have been involved in transporting parts for North Korea's missile programme.

In September, Japan approved new financial sanctions to effectively freeze remittances and the transfer of funds from Japan by groups suspected of having links to North Korea's missile and weapons of mass destruction programmes.

REUTERS PDM VV1544