North Korea warned Wednesday it would regard any sanctions imposed on it by Japan a declaration of war, to be met with an "effective physical" response.
The North Korean Foreign Ministry also threatened to try to exclude Japan from six-party talks on Pyongyang's nuclear arms programs if a "provocative campaign" under way in Japan against the communist country continued.
"If sanctions are applied against the DPRK (North Korea) due to the moves of the ultra-right forces, we will regard it as a declaration of war against our country and promptly react to the action by an effective physical method," the ministry said in a statement carried by the North's official Korean Central News Agency.
North Korea will "seriously reconsider" excluding Japan from the six-nation talks if its "premeditated and provocative campaign of the ultra-right forces against the DPRK goes on," it said.
Pressure has rapidly mounted in Japan for sanctions against North Korea to punish the reclusive regime after it was found to have given false evidence to prove the deaths of two among several Japanese it kidnapped during the Cold War.
© Copyright 2004 by United Press International
