Statement by the Press Secretary/Director-General for Press and Public Relations, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on the agreement between UN and the Government of Cambodia over Khmer Rouge Trials

March 17, 2003

Japan welcomes that the Government of Cambodia and United Nations have reached a basic agreement concerning their cooperation towards the prosecution under Cambodian law of crimes committed during the period of Democratic Kampuchea.
After the announcement by the United Nations in February last year to drop talks with the Government of Cambodia, Japan has been facilitating the realisation of the Khmer Rouge Trials, especially by urging the two parties to resume talks and sponsoring the draft resolution to give the UN Secretary General a clear mandate to reopen negotiation with the Government of Cambodia.
It is the position of the Government of Japan that, respecting the will of the Cambodian government and people to the fullest, the former Khmer Rouge leaders involved in the atrocities during the period of Democratic Kampuchea should be properly punished. Japan thus hopes that the Government of Cambodia and the United Nations will continue to collaborate based on this agreement, with support from the international community, towards the implementation of the Khmer Rouge Trials.

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