Press Conference by the Press Secretary 22 January, 1999

1. Response of the Government of Japan to the apparent massacre of Kosovo Albanians in the village of Racak
2. Support of Japan for a comprehensive round of trade negotiations under the World Trade Organization (WTO)
3. Exchange of opinions between the Government of Japan and one of the Afghan factions
4. Possibility of contacts between Japan and North Korea mentioned in Policy Speech of Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi
5. Support of Japan for the Middle East peace process

1. Response of the Government of Japan to the apparent massacre of Kosovo Albanians in the village of Racak

   Press Secretary Sadaaki Numata: Good afternoon and a somewhat belated happy new year. This has been a rather busy beginning of the year as we were traveling. I have two things to say at the beginning. The first one is not exactly new, but just for the record, to say that on 19 January, I issued a statement on the Kosovo situation, that is concerning the discovery of what was apparently a massacre in Kosovo, specifically in the village of Racak. As you know, the Kosovo Verification Mission found these bodies on 16 January. Japan strongly condemns this massacre. We feel that the truth of this incident should be made clear as soon as possible. We found it very regrettable that the Mission of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) was not allowed to enter the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and we urge the Government of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to cooperate with the activities of the ICTY, in accordance with the relevant United Nations resolutions. We have also called on the Government of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to cooperate with the Kosovo Verification Mission, headed by Ambassador William Walker, and to ensure the safety of its members, in accordance with the agreement reached in October last year. We also feel that both the Government of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the Kosovo Albanians should exercise the utmost restraint to keep the truce intact in order to prevent any further deterioration of the Kosovo situation. We urge them to continue working seriously in order to achieve a political agreement concerning Kosovo. The situation there still continues to unfold, but I just wanted to mention that we made our position clear on this issue.

2. Support of Japan for a comprehensive round of trade negotiations under the World Trade Organization (WTO)

   Press Secretary Sadaaki Numata: Secondly, in his State of the Union message, President William Jefferson Clinton of the United States of America made a call for a new round of global trade negotiations and I wanted to say a few things about it. Japan has consistently called for a comprehensive round of negotiations, that is in the context of the next round of negotiations to take place under the World Trade Organization (WTO) starting from the year 2000. From this viewpoint, we welcome the call made by President Clinton in his State of the Union message, for the nations of the world to join in a new round of global negotiations. We also welcome the fact that United States Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky subsequently enunciated a positive stance of the Government of the United States concerning this next round of trade negotiations. There will be a series of discussions among all those concerned on the specific modalities and areas to be taken up in the next negotiation and so forth, in the lead up to the Third WTO Ministerial Conference to take place in the United States towards the end of this year. We on our part would like to work actively in close consultation with the United States and the European community and other parties, towards the realization of a comprehensive round of negotiations. And in this regard, I would also include the efforts to strengthen the dialogue with the developing countries.

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3. Exchange of opinions between the Government of Japan and one of the Afghan factions

   Q: I am very interested in this Japanese Government Press Release on the exchange of opinions with one of the Afghan factions. I ran into a gentleman of Taliban today.

   Mr. Numata: Did you have an opportunity to be enlightened on the doctrines of Taliban?

   Q: No. Could you tell us a little more about this? Have the talks already taken place?

   Mr. Numata: They are here from 17 to 26 January and today is the discussion between some of our people in the Middle Eastern and African Affairs Bureau and these gentlemen from Taliban. This is a part of our ongoing dialogue with the parties concerned in the conflict within Afghanistan. I do not know whether the exchange of views has already taken place or not. It may be taking place now or it may have taken place already today. However, we are exchanging views with these representatives of this political faction in Afghanistan and in the course of the exchange of views, we will urge a cease-fire and a resumption of the dialogue towards national reconciliation. We would also like to hear the Taliban's views on the current situation in Afghanistan and on the future prospects for a solution to the Afghan issue.

   Q: Does this mean that Japan is actually taking a leading role on this?

   Mr. Numata: Whether or not we are taking a leading role, I think it would help us greatly if we had better knowledge of the situation on the ground as it were, and I think it would also help for the parties of the conflict to have a better understanding of how Afghanistan is viewed by the outside world, including by Japan.

   Related Information (Japan-Afghanistan Relations)
   
4. Possibility of contacts between Japan and North Korea mentioned in Policy Speech of Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi

   Q: In Prime Minister Obuchi's speech the other day, there was a noteworthy passage on North Korea in which he essentially held the door open for the North Koreans to engage in dialogue with Japan. What was the occasion for what looks like a more accommodative stance on the part of the Japanese and what accommodation in return has North Korea made toward Japan?

   Mr. Numata: I think one could debate as to whether this is an indication of a more accommodative stance, as you put it, on the part of Japan but I think there is obviously the need for us and the North Koreans to at least try to keep our channels of communication open. The situation for some time has been that there were no sort of channels of communication to speak of, and that situation in itself is not quite desirable. So what Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi said in his Policy Speech in the Diet on 19 January is that "Japan is ready to achieve improvements in its dialogues and exchanges with North Korea provided that it (North Korea) indicates that it is ready to take a constructive attitude." So it is not in a sort of unilateral, open-ended declaration of intent but if there are some indications of a constructive attitude or forthcomingness on the part of North Korea, we will be ready to engage in a dialogue. What we mean by these constructive or forthcoming attitudes -- if we are to look at the issues that are standing in the way of better Japan-North Korea relations or dialogue -- they are such things as the concerns, widely shared by the international community, on North Korean missiles and the possible nuclear weapons development, and in the bilateral sense, there have been a number of issues which we try to discuss with North Korea, the abduction cases and so forth. These are the points that we have in mind and if there is indeed an indication of a more constructive or positive attitude on the part of North Korea, we would be ready to engage in a dialogue to improve the situation. Prime Minister Obuchi took the opportunity of his Policy Speech in the Diet to convey this message to North Korea.

   Q: Has there been anything to indicate that there has been a more constructive or positive attitude on the part of North Korea?

   Mr. Numata: If that had been the case, I think the Policy Speech would have been phrased differently.

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5. Support of Japan for the Middle East peace process

   Q: The Mayor of Jerusalem said yesterday that he met with Foreign Minister Koumura and Prime Minister Obuchi. Do you know what they talked about and if they reached any agreements, especially on the status of Jerusalem?

   Mr. Numata: I do not have the read-out on the visit, but I can make some educated guesses in the context of the message that Minister for Foreign Affairs Masahiko Koumura carried to the Middle Eastern countries that he visited earlier this month. The message there was for the parties concerned in the Middle East conflict to make sure that the Wye River Agreement be implemented. He made this call, both to Chairman Yasser Arafat and to Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu of the State of Israel. I am sure the same sort of topics may be discussed. I might add one other thing with respect to Foreign Minister Koumura's visit to the Middle East, which is that he visited a number of countries. He first went to the United Kingdom to talk with Foreign Secretary Robin Cook and then he went to the Arab Republic of Egypt and met with President Hosni Mubarak, Foreign Minister Amr Mahmoud Moussa, and I believe with Prime Minister Dr. Kamal Ahmed El Ganzoury. Then, where did his itinerary take him? I may not be following the chronological order, but he spent half a day in the Republic of Lebanon, and it was the first time that a Japanese Foreign Minister ever visited Lebanon, and there he discussed the Lebanon track of the Middle Eastern negotiations and you may also recall that in the course of his trip this time to the Middle East, he made this four-point proposal on the Lebanon track. Then he was also in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and he talked with His Royal Highness Crown Prince Hassan. Then he was in the Syrian Arab Republic and he met President Hafez al-Assad. There he talked about the Syria track and one of the points he made there, also in his trip to Lebanon, was that it is important that both the Lebanon track and Syria track be pursued in parallel, that is these tracks should be pursued as a part of a comprehensive peace settlement in the Middle East. Then he was in the State of Israel to talk to the two parties I mentioned. I am sure that whatever discussions may take place here with Mayor Ehud Olmert of Jerusalem would be in that general context.

   Q: What is Japan's stance on the status of Jerusalem as a capital?

   Mr. Numata: I do not know whether that will be discussed between Foreign Minister Koumura or Prime Minister Obuchi and Mayor Olmert. We still have our Embassy in Tel Aviv. I think for the moment perhaps that will suffice.

   Q: No plans to move?

   Mr. Numata: In other words, there is no capital of Israel which is recognized as such by the whole international community.

   Q: Did Japan receive any response about Foreign Minister Koumura's initiative?

   Mr. Numata: I think there was general welcome about the fact that Foreign Minister Koumura made that proposal. Foreign Minister Koumura made that proposal, not necessarily because Japan was offering itself as a sort of mediator of this controversy of conflict, but in a way we find ourselves I think in a position of being able to talk to all the parties concerned. Where there have been impediments in the communications among the parties concerned, perhaps there are some ways in which we can help facilitate the dialogue and communications among the parties concerned in the sense of, in a way crystallizing the issues involved by framing the issues in something like the four point proposal. It is out of that sort of desire that Foreign Minister Koumura made that proposal. I think his idea was listened to with interest. It remains to be seen how all this may evolve.

   Related Information (Japan-Middle East Relations)