Japan and US impose new sanctions on North Korea

Japan will impose additional sanctions on North Korea for its weapons programmes, Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida said, hours after the US Senate also voted for new sanctions on the secretive state.

US media reported this week that the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), the Pentagon spy agency, assessed that North Korea would be able to field a nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) by next year, earlier than previously thought.

Kishida told reporters that given the increasing threat posed by North Korea's missiles, and the fact that no concrete proposals have been made to resolve the issue of Japanese citizens abducted decades ago by agents from the North, the steps had to be taken.

"Given that we can't expect meaningful dialogue, pressure on them is essential," he said.