Press Conference by the Press Secretary 22 September, 1998

1. Visit by Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi and Minister for Foreign Affairs Masahiko Koumura to the General Assembly of the United Nations
2. Keynote speech by Her Majesty Empress Michiko of Japan to the 26th Congress of the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY)
3. Visit by President Kim Dae Jung of the Republic of Korea to Japan
4. Reported visit by President Jiang Zemin of the People's Republic of China to Japan
5. Fisheries talks between Japan and the Republic of Korea

1. Visit by Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi and Minister for Foreign Affairs Masahiko Koumura to the General Assembly of the United Nations

   Deputy Press Secretary Masaki Okada. Good afternoon. Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi and Minister for Foreign Affairs Masahiko Koumura are both in New York and first I would like to explain what they are now doing. Prime Minister Obuchi arrived in New York on Sunday, 20 September. He had a meeting with Prime Minister Tony Blair of the United Kingdom on the morning of 21 September and he delivered a statement that afternoon at the General Assembly of the United Nations. Prime Minister Obuchi will meet President William Clinton of the United States on the morning of 22 September.

   As for Foreign Minister Koumura, he went to New York a bit earlier than Prime Minister Obuchi and attended the meeting of the so-called 2+2 on the morning of Sunday, 20 September and he also had a meeting with Foreign Minister Hong Soon Yung of the Republic of Korea on the morning of 21 September and in the afternoon he also had a meeting with Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov of the Russian Federation. There will be a Foreign Ministers' meeting of Foreign Minister Koumura, Foreign Minister Hong and Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright of the United States on the evening of 24 September. Both Prime Minister Obuchi and Foreign Minister Koumura are going to meet various other politicians of various countries of the world.

2. Keynote speech by Her Majesty Empress Michiko of Japan to the 26th Congress of the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY)

   Deputy Press Secretary Masaki Okada. Today, I would like to make a rather special announcement concerning the keynote speech made by Her Majesty Empress Michiko of Japan at th. 26th Congress of the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY). The Congress was held in New Delhi. The keynote speech by Her Majesty was delivered in English by video on 21 September. The theme of the 26th Congress was "Peace Through Children's Books" and the title of the keynote speech was "Reminiscences of Childhood Readings.. This is rather unprecedented because this is the first keynote speech delivered by Her Majesty at an international conference. Her Majesty was requested in March 1995 by the Chairman of the IBBY and the Head of the Indian branch of the IBBY to deliver this keynote speech at the 26th Congress and the Government of Japan examined this request and intended to make an official announcement after the completion of the European tour of Their Majesties in June of this year, however, in the meantime, nuclear tests were executed in India and the Imperial Household Agency advised Her Majesty to give up the visit to India. As a result of the cancellation of Her Majesty's visit to India, we were asked to fill a blank space in the program by arranging that somebody read the speech on behalf on behalf of Her Majesty. However, thanks to the efforts of the Japan branch of IBBY, a videotape recording was made possible and the voice of Her Majesty could be heard directly at the Congress. So Her Majesty has been engaged in children's literature with a book entitled "The Animals" written originally in Japanese by Michio Mado and translated by Her Majesty into English, which was given the Hans Christian Andersen Medal in 1994 and this was one of the reasons why Her Majesty was asked by IBBY to give the keynote speech at the Congress. The text of the keynote speech of Her Majesty is available. If you are interested, please read it.

3. Visit by President Kim Dae Jung of the Republic of Korea to Japan

   Q. Republic of Korea President Kim Dae Jung will visit Japan from 7 October. What are some of the points that the Japanese Government will try to achieve in the Summit with the President?

   Mr. Okada. I can still only tell you very vaguely. Japan would first of all like to clearly present at the meeting the idea of a new Japan-Republic of Korea partnership a. desirable future bilateral relations between Japan and the Republic of Korea. The details are still being discussed.

   Q. One of the key interests of all the Korean people and probably a lot of Japanese people as well is the joint statement for the partnership. I would very much like to kno. to what level the Government of Japan will express its regret or whatever about its past history. Is there any information on that?

   Mr. Okada. It is a bit premature for me to make comments on that type of question because we have not yet come to an agreement whether we are going to adopt any joint document or what kind of content we are going to have in that type of document. However, this visit by President Kim Dae Jung of the Republic of Korea gives us an opportunity to see the past squarely once again and as I told you, to build our new partnership toward the coming century.

4. Reported visit by President Jiang Zemin of the People's Republic of China to Japan

   Q. Will Jiang Zemin be visiting Japan, and if so, when?

   Mr. Okada. We are making efforts to realize this postponed visit as soon as possible and we are earnestly coordinating schedules through diplomatic channels. It is also a bi. premature for me to name any concrete date. We will have the visit as soon as possible. However, we cannot tell you it is going to take place this year or next year. It is a bit premature. We are still coordinating with the Chinese side.

   Q. Can you say for sure that the trip to Japa. will be this year or early next year?

   Mr. Okada. We are not sure. It depends on the schedule on both sides.

   Q. There are reports that the Government of Japan will reject the "three no's" support. Can you comment on that?

   Mr. Okada. Our understanding is that we have not had this issue on the table. There was no request or no demand on the Chinese side to put those elements in somewhere. We are just discussing about our future relations and we may also discuss the issue of Taiwan or the one China and so on, but we have not heard any suggestion from the Chinese side to insert those particular words somewhere.

   Q. Will a joint communique be announced this time?

   Mr. Okada. As for the joint communique between Japan and the People's Republic of China, it is the same case as between Japan and the Republic of Korea. We have not yet agreed on the document itself. It is still not clear whether we will adopt a document or not. Therefore we are still not clear what kind of elements we are going to put in the document. As I told you, we are still not in agreement to adopt a document. We are still discussing that kind of thing.

   Q. Will the visit by Jiang Zemin be shortened from six to three days?

   Mr. Okada. We do not know. As I told you, we are still coordinating with the Chinese side the possible schedule of the visit of President Jiang Zemin of the People's Republic of China to Japan. What I can say now is that we are trying to realize this visit to Japan as soon as possible. However, I am not in a position to say more information about that.

5. Fisheries talks between Japan and the Republic of Korea

   Q. I would like to ask about the fisheries talks going on between the Republic of Korea and Japan. The Government has shown eagerness to clear this issue before the Summit begins in October. There have been some reports saying that the Foreign Ministry of Japan and the Republic of Korea are trying to achieve some kind of agreement and toss up the difficult questions to the politicians. Could you tell us about what kind of state the talks are in at this stage?

   Mr. Okada. We are still at the stage of negotiations and man. issues have to be solved between the Government of Japan and the Government of the Republic of Korea. Also it is not so appropriate for me to make any comments on the contents bu. we still think that with regard to some topics the standpoints of the two Governments still differ from each other quite substantially. Therefore, we are not in a position to be so optimistic in the outcome of the negotiations. However, as you already mentioned, we are trying our best to solve this issue and to come to an agreement before President Kim comes to Japan.