The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Monday condemned the threat of economic sanctions against the country by Japan's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), warning that such moves will undermine inter-governmental talks scheduled for Nov. 9-12.  

"The moves have aroused deep apprehension as to the prospect of bilateral relations and thrown adverse impact on the results of the talks as they hamstring efforts to improve bilateral relations," said the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in a commentary.

According to the KCNA, the LDP approved an interim report for applying economic sanctions against the DPRK after accepting that Japanese were abducted by North Korean agents in the 1970s and 1980s to help train its agents in Japanese language and culture.

If the sanctions are adopted, they may lead to a dangerous situation in DPRK-Japan relations that will be hard to restore, said the commentary.

(Xinhua News Agency November 9, 2004)