US 'will not attack North Korea'

US President George Bush today called for stiff sanctions on North Korea for its reported nuclear test and asserted that the US has “no intentions of attacking” the reclusive regime.

In a Rose Garden news conference, Bush said the United States remains committed to diplomacy, but also “reserves all options to defend our friends in the region".

He also vowed increased military cooperation with allies, including bolstering ballistic missile defences in the region and increased efforts to prevent Pyongyang from importing missile and nuclear technology.

As Bush spoke, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged the US to hold one-on-one talks with North Korea, something the US has refused to do.

Bush rejected criticism from Democrats that his administration had not paid enough attention to the brewing North Korean nuclear crisis, saying that the North Korean government had turned its back on a 1994 deal negotiated by the Clinton administration.

“It is the intransigence of the North Korean leader, Kim Jung Il, that led to the current situation, he said.

Japan today announced a total ban on North Korean imports and said ships from the impoverished nation were prohibited from entering Japanese ports.

North Korean nationals are also banned from entering Japan, with limited exceptions, the country’s cabinet office said in a statement released after an emergency security meeting late today.

“Japan is in gravest danger, if we consider that North Korea has advanced both its missile and nuclear capabilities,” prime minister Shinzo Abe told reporters following the meeting.

“We cannot tolerate North Korea’s actions if we are to protect Japanese lives and property,” he said. “These measures were taken to protect the peace.”

Abe added the government will swiftly implement the measures, which were to be formally approved by the Cabinet on Friday.

A total ban on imports and ships would be a big blow for North Korea, whose produce like clams and mushroom earns precious foreign currency on the Japanese market.

Ferries also serve as a major conduit of communication between the two countries, which have no diplomatic relations.

At the port of Maizuru, about 250 miles west of Tokyo, six North Korea-registered trade ships unloading shipments of mushrooms were expected to be ordered out, a coast guard official said.

“It’s a decision taken in Tokyo, so I expect orders to come through soon,” said the official, who agreed to be identified only by his last name, Uchida. The coast guard would be in charge of keeping North Korean ships out after that, he said.

Twenty-four North Korean vessels were moored at ports across the country, and some local traders were already refusing to unload shipments to protest the alleged test, according to local broadcaster NHK.

A spokesman for Japan’s Self-Defence Force, Toshihiko Seki, said battleships would be ready to respond to any threat posed by North Korean ships but there would be no immediate military dispatch to secure Japanese waters.

Tokyo has already halted food aid and imposed limited financial sanctions against North Korea after it test-fired seven missiles into waters between Japan and the Korean peninsula in July, including one capable of reaching the US.