Press Conference by the Press Secretary 17 December 1999

1. Announcement on the Red Cross-Red Cross talks and the resumption of normalization negotiations with North Korea
2. Announcement on the Japan-Russia front
3. Announcement on the Japan-France Bilateral Summit Meeting
4. Issues relating to Japan's contribution of assistance to East Timor
5. Questions regarding the preparatory talks for the resumption of normalization negotiations with North Korea
6. Questions relating to issues raised at the Japan-France Bilateral Summit and other issues

1. Announcement on the Red Cross-Red Cross talks and the resumption of normalization negotiations with North Korea

   Press Secretary Sadaaki Numata: Good afternoon. I have several things. Let me go over them very quickly. The first is that the Red Cross-Red Cross talks as well as the preliminary talks for the resumption of normalization negotiations with North Korea will be taking place very shortly. The Red Cross-Red Cross talks on humanitarian issues between Japan and North Korea will be taking place on Sunday 19 December and on the morning of 20 December in Beijing. The preparatory consultations or talks for the resumption of the normalization negotiations will be Red Cross talks will be headed by Vice President Tadateru Konoe of the Japan Red Cross on the Japanese side and on the North Korean side it will be headed by Deputy Chairman Ho Haeryon of the Central Committee of the North Korean Red Cross. Deputy Director General Kenichiro Sasae of the Asian Affairs Bureau will also take part in that meeting. The preparatory talks for the resumption of the normalization negotiations will be headed on the Japanese side by Director General Koreshige Anami of the Asian Affairs Bureau and on the North Korean side it will be headed by Director O Ul-Rok of the 14th Bureau of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of North Korea.

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2. Announcement on the Japan-Russia front

   Mr. Numata: The second is very quickly on the Japan-Russia front. Ambassador Minoru Tanba, who arrived in Moscow some time ago, presented his credentials to President Boris Yeltsin of the Russian Federation together with ten other newly arrived ambassadors in Moscow and on that occasion he had an opportunity to talk for about one minute with President Yeltsin. In the course of that conversation Ambassador Tanba said to President Yeltsin that we in Japan are very desirous of further development in Japan-Russian relations and that Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi and the Japanese people are eagerly awaiting the visit by President Yeltsin to Japan sometime next Spring, to which President Yeltsin said very forcefully that he will visit Japan sometime next Spring as promised. That was on 16 December and in the meantime Minister for Foreign Affairs Yohei Kono and Minister for Foreign Affairs Igor Ivanov of the Russian Federation met in Berlin on the margins of this G8 foreign ministers meeting on conflict prevention. I note that this is the sixth meeting between a Japanese foreign minister and a Russian foreign minister in the course of this year. It is the first actual encounter between Foreign Minister Kono and Foreign Minister Ivanov. Again, in the context of Japan-Russia relations, this visit by President Yeltsin to Japan was mentioned and Foreign Minister Ivanov said that he was looking forward to visiting Japan on 25-26 January as part of the preparation for President Yeltsin's visit. Foreign Minister Kono, for his part, said that he was indeed looking forward to welcoming Foreign Minister Ivanov and to working with him to prepare for President Yeltsin's visit.

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3. Announcement on the Japan-France Bilateral Summit Meeting

   Mr. Numata: My third point is about the visit by Prime Minister Lionel Jospin of the French Republic. I think you have with you the Joint Communique as well as the annexes covering investments, science and technology, globalization and development assistance. In fact, the Joint Communique is a very accurate reflection of the broad range of discussions that took place between Prime Minister Obuchi and Prime Minister Jospin yesterday on 16 December.

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4. Issues relating to Japan's contribution of assistance to East Timor

   Mr. Numata: My fourth announcement is about East Timor. As you know the Donors' Meeting for East Timor is taking place today. I think around this time the donors are making statements and pledges. In that context, let me draw your attention to two documents. One is entitled, "Japan's Contribution to East Timor after the Direct Ballot" and the other is the press release entitled, "Japan's Contribution for Assistance to East Timor." Senior State Secretary for Foreign Affairs Shozo Azuma of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs spoke at the opening of today's Donors' Meeting and he emphasized three factors as being important for the stable nation building in East Timor. The first is the spirit of reconciliation. In that sense he welcomed the holding of the reconciliation meeting on 14-15 December in Tokyo attended by those for and those against independence. The second important factor is the establishment of cooperative relations with the international community, especially with the neighboring countries in the Asia Pacific region. The third important factor in East Timor and its nation building is the self-help efforts of the East Timorese and in that context he emphasized the importance of the donors extending international, financial, personnel and material support to East Timor. It is in that context that I come back to the two sheets of paper that I was referring to. The first is that this document, "Japan's Contribution to East Timor after the Direct Ballot," summarizes the assistance that we have already given or are just about to give. You will see, for example, that this includes the US$100 million contribution to the United Nations Trust Fund to facilitate participation by developing countries in the multinational force, which is being actively led by Australia, with the participation of other countries, and also humanitarian assistance amounting in financial terms already to US$30 million. We have also dispatched C-130s to transport the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) humanitarian relief items between Surabaya and Kupang. In terms of personnel contribution, Special Advisor to the President of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Akira Takahashi is in place as Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary General for humanitarian assistance in emergency rehabilitation. We are discussing with the United Nations more personnel contributions to dispatch more personnel. In the context of the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET), we do make contributions as, what we call, "Assessed Contribution" in accordance with the scale of contribution established. That amounts to US$52 million.

   These items are under the supplementary budget which has just been passed. That supplementary budget also includes US$9 million for the UNTAET Trust Fund for providing basic administrative services and US$3 million for rehabilitation requirements. This US$9 million and US$3 million fall within the category of assistance for rehabilitation and development. On the occasion of this Donors' Meeting, in fact one day prior to that, we made the announcement, which is in the press release, which is that we have decided to extend around US$100 million over the next three years to East Timor for the purpose of helping the rehabilitation and development of East Timor. I would just make one technical footnote which is that the two items, which are in the supplementary budget, also have to do with rehabilitation and development. When I talk about US$100 million over the course of the next three years for rehabilitation and development of East Timor, this includes the two items which are in the supplementary budget. In view of the fact that the World Bank has come out with the assessment that the requirements for the rehabilitation and development of East Timor in the course of the coming three years would amount to about US$300 million, we do feel that ours is a very substantial pledge and we certainly hope that in the session, which is just going on now, this positive sentiment will be echoed by other donors so that we will have a successful outcome of this meeting. We shall know in a few hours.

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5. Questions regarding the preparatory talks for the resumption of normalization negotiations with North Korea

   Q: On the North Korean talks about normalization, what is the agenda for those talks?

   Mr. Numata: We do not approach the preparatory talks with a fixed agenda. The important thing is that the two sides are coming back to the table after a break of two and a half years since the last time we had preparatory talks for the resumption of normalization negotiations. As for the actual normalization negotiations, the last round was broken off I believe in late 1991, so it has been some time. Full fledged negotiation has not taken place for eight years. It is very important first for the two sides to go back to the table and I suppose that both sides will start with broadly assessing the current state of Japan-North Korea relations and then will start talking about how we can go about preparing for the resumption of the normalization negotiations. Beyond that, I do not think that we have a fixed agenda.

   Q: Is there a timetable?

   Mr. Numata: No timetable fixed at this point yet. As far as the Red Cross-Red Cross talks are concerned, as I said earlier, they will discuss humanitarian issues of concern to either side. In our case it will include the question of the missing Japanese nationals with suspected North Korean involvement and the home-coming trips by Japanese spouses of North Korean nationals. As far as the North Korean side is concerned, it will include the question of the food shortage that they are suffering from. Perhaps in that context, they will have a question of possible food assistance from Japan, but we will see.

   Q: Just to clarify that point. Japan does not extend food assistance at the moment does it?

   Mr. Numata: At the moment, no. In fact, when we took these steps in the wake of the typical missile launch by North Korea at the beginning of September last year, we were not extending food aid at that point in time. We did extend food aid to North Korea back in 1995 until 1997.

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6. Questions relating to issues raised at the Japan-France Bilateral Summit and other issues

   Q: I would like to ask about Prime Minister Obuchi's meeting with Prime Minister Jospin last night. In the Communique in the section on International Financial Architecture, it mentions the stability of the exchange rates and the continuation to cooperate closely in the context of G7. Was anything related to this mentioned in the actual meeting between the two leaders or was this only for the communique?

   Mr. Numata: One thing I am very much certain about is that they did not decree the desired level of exchange rates. That I can be certain of. Prime Minister Obuchi said that we would like to work together with France to implement the broad range of steps to strengthen the international financial system as agreed at the time of the Cologne Summit in June and to make further progress in this regard. He also said that it is important for the G7 countries to work together toward the stability of the exchange rates. Prime Minister Jospin for his part said that he also wanted to go on with the follow up of the agenda of the G7-G8 Meetings in Cologne and in the context of international monetary issues, he said that with the introduction of the Euro, money and international exchange rates have ceased to be a subject of speculation and inflation has been overcome. I think that was about the extent of it. I think the communique faithfully reflects at least the tone of the discussion that took place between the two leaders.

   Q: I would just like to check the words to the last part. Does it mean that the fears of inflation have been overcome?

   Mr. Numata: He may have meant fears of inflation. I am not quite sure if I am reproducing it with Cartesian precision.

   Q: On the World Trade Organization, I understand that at one point in Seattle, the Japanese and European side compromised and said that they will no longer insist on the use of the word "multifunctionality" of agriculture.

   Mr. Numata: I think I see where you are leading. The word multifunctionality is included in this communique, which I noted too. However, I also noted in this context that nothing was agreed in Seattle.

   Q: We are back to the optimum negotiating position of Japan?

   Mr. Numata: It says the return to work for recognition of the multifunctionality of agriculture, including food safety. This is an area were we have shared interest with a number of European countries, and other countries, and France is one of them.

   Q: Did Prime Minister Obuchi mention the possibility of the participation by China at the official Okinawa Summit?

   Mr. Numata: No.

   Q: Was there anything related to the Nissan relationship related to the points of technical and multi-cooperation?

   Mr. Numata: You will note from this communique that in their discussion of Japan-France economic relations, the whole question of reciprocal investment figures rather prominently and Prime Minister Obuchi did say that the economic relationship between Japan and France is sound and that French investment in Japan has been increasing in recent years. He said that it is gratifying that the cooperative relationship between Japanese and French industries has made considerable progress as symbolized by the alliance between Renault and Nissan. In that context Nissan was mentioned. This sentiment was echoed by Prime Minister Jospin as well. He also noted the good state of the economic relationship between Japan and France and he also mentioned, as good examples of the strengthened Japan-France economic relationship, Renault's participation in Nissan's management and Toyota's construction of its second plant in Europe in France.

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