(* This is a provisional translation by "WIP ジャパン" for reference purpose only. The original text is in Japanese.)

Press Conference by Foreign Minister Taro Aso

Date: Friday, November 24, 2006, 9:40a.m.
Place: in front of the Ministers' Room in the House

Main topic:

Six-Party Talks

Six-Party Talks

Question:
Regarding the Six-Party Talks, Christopher Hill, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, seems to be headed again for China next week. What is the present state of scheduling for the Talks?

Minister:
All I can say at the moment is that scheduling is underway.

Question:
Concerning the content of the Talks, what points are presently under discussion between the U.S. and China?

Minister:
Basically it is in the same line with the one discussed at the occasion of the APEC. Merely resuming the Six-Party Talks itself has no meaning. They were started for the purpose of preventing North Korea from acquiring nuclear weapons; but now that it has them, the main conditions for holding the Talks have changed. There will be no point in holding the Talks unless North Korea's participation is predicated on its firmly accepting various nuclear-related conditions.

Question:
Yesterday evening, Chief Cabinet Secretary, Yasuhisa Shiozaki, declared his wish to include the abductions issue in the Six-Party Talks. Is the government considering bringing the abductions issue up?

Minister:
Yes, this is a position that we in Japan have taken consistently.

Question:
How have the reactions been from each of the countries involved?

Minister:
Reactions to the nuclear issue have been the strongest, followed by the missiles. The mere number of those victimized by abductions or, rather, the absolute number of countries that have been subjected to abductions, is small; therefore, I think the order in which the rest of the world sees things is nuclear, then missiles, then abductions. Japan has been directly victimized by the abductions and therefore views the issue as a very important one. And, beginning with Japan-U.S. foreign minister's meetings, I have talked in this line with all five countries involved in the Six-Party Talks. The abductions issue is fairly the one that Japan will bring up as a matter of course.

Question:
In regard to this issue, are you considering holding bilateral talks with North Korea?

Minister:
I wonder. We are taking a wide view of things, considering a number of options. It is not a case of doing only this or that, but of thinking flexibly of various things. At this point, we are not considering bilateral talks, but there is a possibility of bilateral meeting within the framework of the Six-Party Talks.

Back to Index