Talks with North Korea are deadlocked on two make-or-break issues: that country's nuclear weapons program and its past abduction of Japanese nationals. Last month, declaring that it has nuclear weapons, Pyongyang threatened an indefinite boycott of the six-party talks. It also refused to discuss the abductee issue, denouncing as a "fabrication" Japanese DNA tests that proved the human remains delivered by North Korea last year were not those of missing abductee Ms. Megumi Yokota.
These responses are unacceptable. Pyongyang should be put on notice, unmistakably, that it has nothing to gain from continued brinkmanship. Japan, along with the four other parties (United States, China, South Korea and Russia), has been negotiating with North Korea under a policy of "pressure and dialogue." It's time to shift the emphasis from carrot to stick.
On Tuesday, Japan applied the stick by putting into effect a law that holds shipowners responsible for oil spills and other maritime accidents. The law, which requires that ships of 100 tons or more carry liability insurance, effectively prohibits the entry of uninsured ships. This legislation was updated in the wake of oil spills caused by a North Korean freighter that ran aground in Hitachi port, Ibaraki Prefecture, in 2002. The shipowner failed to pay compensation.