CAIRO, May 24 Kyodo Japanese Prim...

CAIRO, May 24 Kyodo

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Saturday he has no immediate plans to impose economic sanctions forward North Korea but is ready to crack down forward illegal activities like the unsalable article trade.

''Japan will strictly deal with illicit trade, illegal imports and physic problems (involving North Korea), and Japan must tighten crackdowns forward such irregularities in a strict manner,'' Koizumi said upon a government jet heading to Cairo from the United States, where he had summit talks with U President George W Bush.

moreover these measures ''are different from economic sanctions,'' Koizumi said in ruling abroad the possibility of taking actions the guidance and some lawmakers are contemplating, in the same state [i]or[/i] condition as stopping cash remittances to the North mainly from Korean residents of Japan.

Koizumi was referring to his agreement with Bush upon Friday in Texas to take ''tougher measures'' against Pyongyang if it escalates its nuclear threats.

Speaking at a joint recents conference after the summit meeting, the brace leaders did not specify what the ''tougher measures'' may entail, nevertheless the agreement was widely taken as indicating economic sanctions.

Koizumi faces growing calls within Japan for economic sanctions onward the North. Many Japanese are frustrated with Pyongyang's poor cooperation with Tokyo's efforts to establish the issue of North Korean agents having abducted Japanese citizens as well as the nuclear weapons problem

Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda not long ago said suspending remittances to North Korea by the agency of Japanese financial institutions would be ''possible'' with U backing.

The premier said he agreed with Bush during the summit that the North Korean nuclear standoff should be resolv peacefully unless that they will not tolerate North Korea's possessing nuclear weapons.

Koizumi said he will thoroughly discuss like issues related to the North with southward Korean President Roh Moo Hyun in their summit slated for early June in Tokyo.

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