Press Conference by the Press Secretary April 25, 1997

Press Conference Announcements
1. Hostage incident in the Republic of Peru
  Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ken Shimanouchi: Yesterday, 24 April, the Japanese House of Representatives passed a resolution of gratitude for the resolving of the hostage-taking at the Japanese Ambassador's Residence in Peru. This morning, 25 April, the House of Councillor's passed a resolution on the same subject. Both resolutions expressed the sincerest condolences of the two Houses for the three people who lost their lives in the rescue operation. Both resolutions expressed heartfelt gratitude to the Government of Peru and to other countries, international organizations, as well as individuals. Both resolutions reaffirmed Japan's firm stance against terrorism. We have made the text of the two resolutions available to you. Minister for Foreign Affairs Yukihiko Ikeda is in Lima, Peru right now. He met with President Alberto Fujimori of the Republic of Peru in the afternoon of 24 April, local time -- that is early in the morning, Tokyo time. He expressed to President Fujimori the deep gratitude of Japan for the resolution of the incident and told President Fujimori of the two Diet resolutions that I have just described to you. He expressed his condolences for the deaths of the two Peruvian Special Forces members and the Supreme Court judge. He told President Fujimori that Japan wished to enhance even more the friendly ties between the two countries. Earlier in the day, Foreign Minister Ikeda attended the memorial services for the two servicemen and for the Supreme Court judge. On 25 April, local time, he will be meeting the three members of the Commission of Guarantors -- Archbishop Cipriani, Ambassador Anthony Vincent, and the International Commission of the Red Cross (ICRC) Representative Michael Minnig. I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to the news media for their, by and large, objective and fair coverage of the hostage incident. There were some exceptions. Let me give you just one. On 24 April, a British newspaper carried an article which suggested that it was absurd for Japan to praise President Fujimori when it had been seeking a negotiated settlement to resort to the payment of ransom money if necessary. This is an outrageous accusation. Japan is a member of the G-7. As a member of the G-7, it adheres to all G-7 agreements on terrorism, including the principle of making no concessions to terrorists. In keeping with this principle, from the early stages of the hostage incident, Japan maintained a clear position that it would stand firm against terrorism and would never pay ransom money to the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA).
2. Announcement of new posting of Deputy Press Secretary Ken Shimanouchi
  Spokesman Shimanouchi: This will be the last press conference before the Golden Week holiday, as we call it in Japan. This will also be the last press briefing that I will be giving as Deputy Press Secretary. Next week, I will be moving on to different if not bigger and better things. I will not say that I enjoyed every moment in this job, because you may accuse me of sounding like a spokesman, even in conveying such a personal message like this. But, I will tell you that it has been an exciting and professionally fruitful two years. Although I have had some difficult moments in this conference room, it has been a very intellectually stimulating experience from which I learned a lot. I would like to express my gratitude to all of you for your help and, most of all, for your friendship. Thank you very much, and hasta la vista -- this should not be interpreted as a hint about my next job.
Deaths of Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA) members
Q: Do you already know, from the Peruvian Government, how the MRTA members were killed?

Spokesman Shimanouchi: My short answer to that question is that we do not know. There have been some news reports about that. We do not have the details about how the rescue operation was carried out, so I will have to refrain from commenting specifically on these newspaper reports. Having said that, I would like to draw your attention to two things. Firstly, while we understand the grief and the suffering of the families of the MRTA members who were killed, we must not lose sight of the fact that it was the MRTA who perpetrated this very inhumane act of holding a large number of innocent people hostage over a period of 127 days. This act of terrorism brought about such an outcome. Secondly, we must not be oblivious of the facts that these terrorists were heavily armed, that they had repeatedly threatened to kill the hostages, and that a hostage and two members of the Peruvian Special Forces were also killed during the operation.
Food aid to North Korea
Q: Prime Minister Hashimoto, on his airplane flight to the United States, in answer to a reporter's question, said that for humanitarian food aid to be made to North Korea, Japan would like some humanitarian answers from North Korea on the issues of Japanese kidnappings, etc. Does this imply that the Japanese Government is considering not responding to the United Nations call for food aid to North Korea?

Spokesman Shimanouchi: I do not have the transcript of what Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto said on the plane. Ever since the United Nations announced its consolidated appeal for emergency assistance to North Korea, the Government of Japan has been examining the contents of this request, and has been carefully considering this matter, taking into account a number of factors. One of the factors is, as you mentioned, the suspected kidnappings. We have repeatedly said that while there is no direct linkage between this issue and the issue of food aid to North Korea, we also have to take into account how the Japanese people feel about these issues -- the suspected kidnappings and the issues of Japanese wives in North Korea. The Japanese people are not comfortable with the idea of going ahead with food assistance when there is no progress being made regarding these issues. So, this is one of the things that the Government has to be mindful of in considering the question of food assistance to North Korea. That is the position of the Government of Japan.
Taiwan's participation in international organizations
Q: Can you comment on Taiwan's efforts to enter international organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO)?

Spokesman Shimanouchi: I believe that there was a newspaper report which stated that Taiwan was applying for formal membership in the World Health Organization. We are not aware of such official application being made. But, we do know that Taiwan has applied for observer status at the 50th General Assembly of the WHO scheduled for May. With regard to the question of Taiwan's participation in the United Nations and United Nations-related organizations, we believe that this is a question which should be discussed within these organizations on the basis of the charter, or the relevant resolutions or practices of these organizations. Japan's basic position regarding Taiwan is as stated in the Japan-China Joint Communiqué. We will be acting in accordance with paragraphs two and three of the Joint-Communiqué.
United States sanctions on the Union of Myanmar
Q: What is the position of the Government of Japan on the United States recent imposition of sanctions against Burma?

Spokesman Shimanouchi: We have reports from Washington that the Government of the United States of America decided to impose sanctions on the Union of Myanmar on 21 April. The sanctions took effect on 22 April. Japan is greatly concerned about the current situation in Myanmar. We maintain the position that Myanmar should work to improve the situation both in terms of democracy and better human rights. Japan intends to continue to make patient and tenacious efforts in calling on Myanmar to make progress in the democratization of the country and in improving the human rights situation. At the present time, Japan is not contemplating imposing sanctions on Myanmar.

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