The DPRK-Japan Friendship Association on Monday requested the DPRK government not to allow Japan to participate in the six-party talks on the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula.  

The non-governmental organization also asked the government not to have any bilateral contact with Japan in the light of its recently-introduced economic sanctions against the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

"This is a wanton violation of international law and a grave infringement upon DPRK's sovereignty as it is quite contrary to the trend of the present times towards independence, peace, reconciliation and cooperation and to the DPRK-Japan Pyongyang Declaration," a spokesman for the organization said in a statement.

The call came in the wake of the Jan. 29 approval by Japan's House of Representatives a legislation covering the "amendment to the law on foreign exchange".

The spokesman said the DPRK government had explicitly stated more than once that it would consider any sanctions or blockade against it as a declaration of war and would take legitimate self-defense measures.

The spokesman warned that Japan should be wholly accountable for all the consequences arising from its reckless behavior.

(Xinhua News Agency February 10, 2004)