EVENTS

CLINTON ENACTS JAPAN TRADE SANCTIONS The Clinton administration yesterday unsheathed the most powerful weapon in the US trade arsenal as it sought to maintain pressure on Japan to reduce a $59.3 billion trade gap between the two countries. Administration and congressional sources said that President Clinton decided yesterday to revive the so-called Super 301 law by executive order. The law, which was briefly in force from 1989 to 1990, sets up a ``hit list'' of countries judged to have erected the most egregious trade barriers. If 18 months of negotiations fail to remove the barriers, then the administration has the power to impose retaliatory tariffs of up to 100 percent. Mr. Clinton and Japanese Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa were forced to declare tade policy framework talks deadlocked on Feb. 11 over US demands that Japan set import goals. (US firms look at US-Japan trade relations, Page 11.) Korean talks

The first talks between North and South Korea in four months broke down yesterday when North Korea demanded that plans to deploy Patriot missiles in South Korea be scrapped. Negotiators agreed, however, to meet again Wednesday in the border village of Panmunjom . The meeting, the first since November, opened as UN inspectors were preparing to begin checks on North Korea's seven declared nuclear sites under a deal struck with the US last week. Yugoslavia shooting

Bursts of gunfire at military position in Sarajevo yesterday marred the city's cease-fire for a second day. But UN officials said the shooting was isolated and would not escalate. A separate, week-old Muslim-Croat truce in central Bosnia and southwestern Mostar appeared to be holding.

Power contract voided

The controversial Great Whale dam project in northern Quebec was dealt a blow Wednesday when New York Power Authority Chairman David Freeman recommended against signing a new 20-year, $5 billion contract with Hydro-Quebec. Mr. Freeman said the contract was too expensive and that demand for power had fallen. Native leaders and environmental groups that oppose the dam hailed the recommendation. A Hydro-Quebec spokesman said the dam would be delayed one year if the contract falls through.