Japan expands unilateral sanctions on N. Korea

The Japanese government decided Friday to freeze the assets of 19 more North Korean companies as part of its unilateral sanctions in response to the North's repeated defiance of a U.N. ban on nuclear and ballistic missile tests.The 19 firms deal in financial services, trade in coal and oil, shipping and the dispatch of workers overseas, according to the Foreign Ministry.After a roughly two-month hiatus in launches, North Korea fired a missile on Nov. 29 that it said was a new type of intercontinental ballistic missile capable of hitting any target on the U.S. mainland.The Japanese governmen…READ FULL ARTICLE