Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi indicated economic sanctions would be a last resort against North Korea as he headed to a summit with South Korea which urged him to stay cool-headed. Koizumi, who will hold a two-day meet with President Roh Moo-Hyun in the southern Japanese resort of Ibusuki, has come under growing public pressure to punish North Korea over its abductions of Japanese people during the Cold War. Japanese researchers concluded last week that North Korea lied by presenting the remains of other people in an attempt to prove that two kidnap victims were dead. “There have been mounting calls for sanctions against North Korea over the false remains but we need to continue talking with Pyongyang even for the purpose of getting to the bottom of the case,” Koizumi told South Korean media in Tokyo ahead of the summit. “We will wait and see how North Korea responds and then we will take our next step,” Koizumi said. The United States, South Korea and China have all called for Japan to be cautious in dealing with cash-strapped but heavily armed North Korea, which warned Wednesday that it would consider sanctions an act of war.

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