(* This is a provisional translation by an external company for reference purpose only. The original text is in Japanese.)

Press Conference by Minister for Foreign Affairs Taro Aso

Date: Tuesday, July 3, 2007, 9:50 a.m.
Place: Briefing Room, Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Main topics:

Cabinet Meeting
Defense Minister Kyuma's Comments
Reduction of CO2 Emissions
North Korean Issues

1. Cabinet Meeting

Minister:
The Japanese government has decided to extend approximately $700,000 of emergency grant aid through the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA). This is to grant humanitarian aid for Palestinian refugees who have been influenced by the armed conflict at the refugee camp in north Lebanon.

Related Information (Press Release)

(See Japanese version)

2. Defense Minister Kyuma's Comments

(See Japanese version)

3. Reduction of CO2 Emissions

Question:
In the Cabinet meeting the other day, Minister of the Environment Wakabayashi requested that each minister give ideas on methods of reducing CO2 emissions. Please let us know if you have any ideas of your own for reducing emissions.

Minister:
Many ideas were suggested for reducing CO2 emissions, so I selected from amongst these ones to implement and ones not to implement.

Question:
I understand that each Cabinet member at the Informal Cabinet Meeting today submitted his or her own card; which amongst these did you select?

Minister:
I selected the one that suggested reducing emissions by 74g by shortening showers by one minute per day, reducing emissions by 104g by changing old air conditioners to energy-saving ones, turning off the TV when you're not watching, etc.

If you think about it, there are many sorts of ideas. I think that even better ideas can be generated if people give some time to think about the matter. When you get these sorts of ideas, don't you find yourself being more careful? At the very least, I hear that changing the flow of a running showerhead from a strong one to a weaker one makes a big change. It's important to learn to pay attention in this kind of a way. If we all work together bit by bit, the results will amount to a drastic change.

Through the change in office attire under "Cool Biz," in total, electricity consumption decreased by several days' worth. As we can see, the small contribution of each person amounts to something tremendous if everyone participates. It's not enough for some people or some companies somewhere to be working on their own.

Technology is advancing quite a bit as well. I heard that in New York, compared to US cars, the Lexus runs with one-eighth the environmental burden. I assume this is not about running on the highway and using electricity instead of gasoline. Using coal emits CO2 and sulfur, but there have been technological advancements; you may have heard that Mitsubishi Heavy Industries patented a process for completely eliminating just the sulfur emission. Since the need has been arising, these technologies may continue to be reevaluated.

Related Information (Climate Change)

4. North Korean Issues

Question:
The Pyongyang visit by IAEA's working-level group of representatives has concluded, and it seems to have gone relatively well, with North Korea exhibiting a cooperative stance. What do you foresee as the next step for the Head of Delegation Meeting of the Six-party Talks?

Minister:
We are dealing with North Korea, so we can't make any easy predictions. At the very least, Assistant Secretary of State Hill had previously mentioned "the beginning of July," but it looks as though that might not happen. Representatives who had already been at the site, such as Deputy Director Heinonen of the IAEA, have visited, and those informed of the matter have returned and said that they are satisfied with their visit to North Korea.

A special meeting of the IAEA Board of Governors will be held on July 9; if IAEA personnel are to go to North Korea again afterwards, how long will that take? I'm guessing several weeks. With that in mind, we know at the very least, the next meeting will not be taking place in the beginning of July.

At any rate, all this was planned to have taken place within 60 days after February 13, and it is already running late by several months. In that respect, I believe that it should take place at the earliest possible date. North Korea has been saying that it will implement the actions if it receives a 50,000 ton shipment, but in the beginning, it was agreed that the actions would take place concurrently. "We will implement the actions if we get a shipment of 50,000 tons" -- we are noticing a subtle shift, and we sense another change in plans.

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