Japanese Foreign Minister Mr Nobutaka Machimura has said economic sanctions against North Korea were an option in a dispute over human remains.
Calls are growing from the Japanese public and politicians for the government to impose sanctions on North Korea after Tokyo said bones Pyongyang had identified as those of Japanese it had kidnapped were from other people.
Tokyo was angered aftter the human remains provided by North Korea were not those of a kidnapped Japanese woman.
"Economic sanctions are one option but whether we should exercise that option immediately or not would warrant very careful analysis," Mr Machimura told reporters.
Machimura also said six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear programmes were very important and Japan would continue to encourage Pyongyang to return to the negotiating table
