TOKYO, June 16 Kyodo

(EDS: UPDATING, ADDING COMMENTS AT 5TH-7TH, 12TH GRAFS)

Japan's parliament enacted a bill into law Friday that requires the government to impose economic sanctions on North Korea if Pyongyang fails to make progress in addressing its human rights situation, notably the abduction of Japanese nationals.

With the enactment, the government aims to realize the early return of Japanese nationals abducted by North Korean agents from the late 1970s to the early 1980s and promote international cooperation in resolving the issue.

The bill cleared the legislature at a plenary session of the House of Councillors, with support from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, its junior coalition partner, the New Komeito party, and the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan. It was approved by the House of Representatives on Tuesday.

The law is the third in a series of measures to press North Korea on the abduction issue, following a law to take financial actions through the revised Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Law and a law to ban port calls by North Korean vessels.

Leaders of a group of relatives of abduction victims welcomed the legislation as a step toward rescue of their loved ones and urged the government to take advantage of it.

''The problem is how to make use of this law,'' Shigeru Yokota, 73, whose daughter Megumi was abducted in 1977 at age 13, told a press conference at a lawmakers' office building. ''I want the government to deal sternly with North Korea in line with the law's objectives.''

His wife, Sakie, 70, said, ''I'm very pleased. Let's just hope that it will have an effect and lead to an early resolution of the abduction issue.''

The law, proposed by lawmakers, defines the resolution of the abduction issue as a duty for the government of Japan and calls for it to conduct thorough investigations into the issue and do whatever it can to realize the return of Japanese abductees.

It obligates the government to take ''necessary measures'' such as imposing financial sanctions under the foreign exchange law if no improvement is seen in North Korea's human rights situation, supporting North Koreans who fled the country and supplying information and financial support to nongovernmental organizations helping those defectors.

But the government is given discretionary power in invoking economic sanctions against the North after considering the international situation ''in a comprehensive way.''