Press Conference 18 November 2003

1. Statement by Press Secretary/Director-General for Press and Public Relations on murder of United Nations worker in Afghanistan
2. Statement by Press Secretary/Director-General for Press and Public Relations on signing of peace agreement with rebel forces in Burundi
3. Upcoming visit to Japan by Prime Minister Mikhail Mikhaylovich Kasyanov of the Russian Federation
4. Question concerning meeting between Minister for Foreign Affairs Yoriko Kawaguchi and Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly of the United States of America
5. Questions concerning six-party talks on North Korean issues
6. Questions concerning dispatch of Self-Defense Force study mission to Iraq
7. Question concerning alleged terrorist threat of attack on Tokyo

1. Statement by Press Secretary/Director-General for Press and Public Relations on murder of United Nations worker in Afghanistan

   Press Secretary Hatsuhisa Takashima: Good afternoon and thank you very much for coming to this briefing. Before taking questions, I would like to make three announcements.

   The first announcement is on the murder of a United Nations worker in Afghanistan.

   The Government of Japan issued a statement by the Press Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the news of the workers of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) who were either killed or injured in Ghazni, in the southeastern part of Afghanistan, in the afternoon of 16 November.

   Japan strongly condemns such a barbarous act of targeting the staff of international organizations in Afghanistan that are striving for humanitarian and reconstruction assistance. Japan extends heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families and those concerned of the UNHCR and prays for a quick recovery for the injured.

   The Government of Japan is determined to continue making efforts for humanitarian and reconstruction assistance to Afghanistan, in concert with the rest of the international community.

   Related Information (Statement by the Press Secretary/Director-General for Press and Public Relations, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on the Murder of a UN Worker in Afghanistan)
   
2. Statement by Press Secretary/Director-General for Press and Public Relations on signing of peace agreement with rebel forces in Burundi

   Mr. Takashima: The second announcements is about the statement by the Press Secretary on Burundi's peace issue.

   Japan welcomes the signing of a peace agreement on 16 November in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, between the Transitional Government of Burundi and the Nkurunziza Faction of the Forces for the Defense of Democracy (FDD), the largest rebel group in the country, and highly commends the efforts of all the people concerned who contributed to brining this agreement into existence, in particular, the roles played by President Thabo Mbeki and Vice President Jacob Zuma of South Africa.

   Japan is deeply concerned that fighting involving civilians is still continuing in Burundi, and therefore urges the National Liberation Forces (FNL) to discontinue fighting and to join the peace process immediately.

   Having been supporting the peace process, Japan hopes that the Arusha Peace Agreement will be steadily carried out under the transitional government and that peace and reconstruction in Burundi will be quickly achieved.

   Related Information (Statement by the Press Secretary/Director-General for Press and Public Relations, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on Burundi's Peace Issue (Signing of Peace Agreement with Rebel Forces))
   
3. Upcoming visit to Japan by Prime Minister Mikhail Mikhaylovich Kasyanov of the Russian Federation

   Mr. Takashima: The third announcement is about the visit to Japan by Prime Minister Mikhail Mikhaylovich Kasyanov of the Russian Federation.

   The Russian Prime Minister will be visiting Japan from 15 to 17 December. During his stay in Japan, Prime Minister Kasyanov will be meeting with Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and Minister for Foreign Affairs Yoriko Kawaguchi, and will discuss such issues as energy cooperation between Japan and Russia, the promotion of trade between our two countries, and evaluation and review of the progress made during the past one year under the so-called Japan-Russia Action Program.

   Related Information (Japan-Russia Relations)
   
4. Question concerning meeting between Minister for Foreign Affairs Yoriko Kawaguchi and Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly of the United States of America

   Q: My question is on the news of the talks between Foreign Minister Kawaguchi and Mr. James Kelly. Can you describe what happened during the talks? What were the main issues?

   Mr. Takashima: Foreign Minister Kawaguchi received a courtesy call by Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly of the United States of America this afternoon from noon to 12:30 at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. They discussed bilateral issues between Japan and the United States and also North Korean issues, the six-party talks in particular.

   On bilateral issues, they both recognized the close and friendly relations being strengthened between our two countries by the recent visit of President George W. Bush and the visit of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.

   On the North Korean issues, they both agreed that Japan and the United States will closely coordinate our policies vis-à-vis North Korea and seek for a peaceful and diplomatic solution of this issue through the six-party talks. No date has been discussed, but Japan expressed its hope that the next round of six-party talks will be held as soon as possible. Japan also expressed its desire to seek a comprehensive solution of the North Korean issues, including nuclear weapons development, missiles and abduction. This Japanese position was fully supported by Assistant Secretary of State Kelly.

   Related Information (Japan-The United States Relations)
   Related Information (Japan-North Korea Relations)
   
5. Questions concerning six-party talks on North Korean issues

   Q: Does that mean that Japan is intending to take up the abduction issue during the six-way talks when it is held again?

   Mr. Takashima: The abduction issue is part of the overall solution of the North Korean issues. This position has been supported by the US side. In what form and through what means this abduction issue will be raised is something that remains to be seen.

   However, I would like to remind you that during the course of the first round of the six-party talks held in Beijing in August, the Japanese delegation raised the issue of abduction as part of the issues concerning North Korea. The North Korean side agreed to hold bilateral talks between Japan and North Korea to discuss issues concerning Japan and North Korea, including the abduction cases. Japan has been urging North Korea to start these bilateral talks whenever the time is convenient to both of us.

   Q: Any signs of this?

   Mr. Takashima: Unfortunately not.

   Q: Can I ask you also about the statement that you are intending to put together to assure North Korea of its security concerns? Has there been any progress on or a mention of the statement for the six-way talks?

   Mr. Takashima: The issue of assurance of security to North Korea as well as dismantling of the nuclear weapons production capability of North Korea were both discussed between Foreign Minister Kawaguchi and Assistant Secretary of State Kelly. I would like to refrain from going into the details, but the security assurance is something the US side is seriously considering and President Bush indeed expressed his intention to give written assurance to North Korea, if North Korea dismantled its nuclear capability. Japan fully supports the US position.

   Q: But can you trust North Korea to dismantle its nuclear weapons program?

   Mr. Takashima: Certainly the issue of inspection and verification will be a very serious one. Of course, we, and every party to the six-party talks - not referring to North Korea at this moment, but - all five nations are seeking the verifiable and irreversible dismantling of the North Korean nuclear capability. To repeat, verification is a very important issue.

   Q: I would like to ask about the priority possibly set by the Government of Japan on the way to resolve the issue of abduction. Does Japan place priority on resolving this issue through bilateral negotiation with North Korea or rather by bringing it to the six-party talks in a multilateral forum?

   Mr. Takashima: There is no priority set by the Japanese Government on the way to resolve this issue. The Japanese side regards the abduction issue as priority number one and is insisting that this abduction issue be resolved immediately. We have already made it very clear at the six-party talks that without resolving this abduction issue, as part of the comprehensive solution, Japan cannot offer any sort of economic cooperation to North Korea, even if this economic cooperation is one that would be agreed on upon the resolution of the nuclear issue through the six-party talks.

   Also, my understanding is that this Japanese position is well understood by all the other parties of the talks. At the same time, since North Korea has agreed to hold the bilateral talks to resolve the issues of bilateral concern, we think that these bilateral talks would be a very appropriate venue for seeking a resolution of this abduction case.

   Related Information (Japan-North Korea Relations)
   
6. Questions concerning dispatch of Self-Defense Force study mission to Iraq

   Q: On the Iraq issue, around the time President Bush came to Japan, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that Japan could not yet make a decision on sending the Self-Defense Forces (SDF) to Iraq because the mission that had been sent to Iraq but had already come back was still working on its report. Then for a long time, the Government kept saying that it was looking at the situation and that it will take a decision.

   Now, again, there is a mission in Iraq. Why the second mission? I thought that after the earlier mission, a decision would be made after their report came out. But now, apparently that report has not been published or is not finished?

   Mr. Takashima: Actually, the first mission consisted of various government officials including members of the Self-Defense Forces, but mostly officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as well as the Cabinet Office. They filed a report after studying various aspects of the situation in Iraq.

   In the case of this current second mission, there are no officials from any other department of the Government. They are only officials from the Self-Defense Forces and the Defense Agency. That is the biggest difference. This study mission is now in Iraq and its vicinity to conduct a specified study of the role and the mission of the Self-Defense Forces on-the-spot.

   The government policy to make use of the ability of the Self-Defense Forces for the assistance for the reconstruction and rehabilitation of Iraq has not been changed at all. We are still studying the mission which can be given to the Self-Defense Forces as part of the overall effort of the Japanese Government to assist in the Iraqi reconstruction.

   Q: Prime Minister Koizumi has said for a long time that he will look at the situation and make a decision accordingly. However, you can keep looking until 2010 or 2020. At one point you have to say that now is the time to make a decision.

   Mr. Takashima: The procedure is that the Government has to decide, firstly, to formulate the basic plan of sending the Self-Defense Forces which has to be approved by the Cabinet. After this, the Cabinet would instruct the Defense Agency to give the order to the Self-Defense Forces to start formal preparations and then the actual dispatch will be made.

   We are now in the process of the preliminary study of what sort of basic plan can be composed. As part of the preparation, this second mission is in Iraq to send back the necessary report for the leaders of the Government to decide on this basic plan.

   Q: Last question on this issue. Does that mean that sending this specific SDF mission was already decided a long time ago or when was it decided to send this mission? As I said earlier, around the time President Bush came, the impression I got from your colleague was that when that first mission had its report finished, then a decision would be made. Was it at that time already clear that this mission would also go or is this related to recent incidents such as the bombing of the Italian headquarters?

   Mr. Takashima: During the course of the governmental policy-making process, this idea of sending this mission from the Self-Defense Forces or Defense Agency came up. The Government decided that it would be appropriate and also necessary to have this mission be sent to Iraq. Of course, we took the various aspects of the situation into account before coming to the decision of sending this study team.

   Q: Do you know how long this mission will be staying in Iraq?

   Mr. Takashima: We have not actually announced the details of its schedule because of security reasons. Therefore, I do not have that information to share with you at this moment. However, they have just arrived in Iraq and just started their work of surveying and studying.

   Related Information (The Issue of Iraq)
   
7. Question concerning alleged terrorist threat of attack on Tokyo

   Q: Can I ask you about the threat of attacking Tokyo which was announced to the Arabic newspaper magazine yesterday? Were you able to check on what the real source was? Or was there any credibility, for instance, to what was being said in this report?

   Mr. Takashima: We have no information that would confirm the identity of the one that sent or revealed this information. However, we strongly condemn this kind of threat and we are determined not to be threatened nor intimidated by this kind of blackmailing by possible terrorists.

   At the same time, since we have so many Japanese traveling all over the world, and it also specifically mentioned the city of Tokyo, we thought that it would be appropriate for us to issue a travel advisory to the Japanese travelers to take necessary precautions for their own safety.

   Furthermore, Prime Minister Koizumi today said that necessary caution and preventive measures have already been taken.