Press Conference, 2 March 2007
- Announcements available on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs website
- Questions concerning the upcoming Japan-North Korea bilateral talks in Hanoi, Socialist Republic of Viet Nam
I. Announcements and documents available on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs website
Deputy Press Secretary Tomohiko Taniguchi: Thanks for coming. Let me first walk you through some of the latest developments that are already uploaded on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. I will read out only the titles of the items.
Food Aid through the World Food Programme (WFP).
The 4th Meeting of Japan-EU Dialogue on Intellectual Property Rights.
An announcement of a visit to Japan by President Juan Evo Morales Ayma of the Republic of Bolivia.
An item of the talks and dinner between the Foreign Ministers of the Kingdom of Thailand and Japan.
An address by Minister for Foreign Affairs Taro Aso entitled "Middle East Policy as I See It", which he delivered on 28 February.
Visit to Japan by Japanese American Leadership Delegation.
The gist of the visit to Japan of Chairman of the Government Mikahil Efimovich Fradkov of the Russian Federation.
Assistance to Farmers in the Southern Part of the Republic of Haiti.
Visit to Japan by Prime Minister John Howard of the Commonwealth of Australia.
Those items have already been uploaded on the website for you to look at, so I would rather not go deep into each one of these items.
In addition to that, I should introduce only one other item, which is that the Japanese Government has decided on 2 March to provide US$186 million to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria.
II. Questions concerning the upcoming Japan-North Korea bilateral talks in Hanoi, Socialist Republic of Viet Nam
Q: I would like to ask about this Hanoi Japan-North Korea talk to be held next week. We understand who will be representing each Government, and therefore how long the duration is going to be. However, if possible we would like to know more about the ideas about in what way the meeting is going to be held, and what is the objective or goal for this two-day meeting?
Mr. Taniguchi: From the North Korea side, someone called Mr. Song Il Ho, who is in charge of Japan-North Korea normalization talks is going to join the meeting in the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam. From the Japanese side, Representative for Japan-North Korea Normalization Talks Koichi Haraguchi is going to join, so those are the representatives. They will also be accompanied by many others, but those are the chief negotiators.
As to what kind of objective we are pursuing, obviously the most important issue is about the abductions, and we are hoping that North Korea will be much more forthcoming in telling the truth about what has happened to the victims and what they are willing to do, for instance, to make further investigations of the situations surrounding abductees. If indeed there is any development, there is going to be room for Japan to consider implementing some supportive actions for North Korea, but that will depend totally on what the North Korean Government is going to tell us.
Q: We understand that the Japanese Government and the North Korean Government both are considering the possibility of holding more rounds of talks between the two Governments. Is that correct?
Mr. Taniguchi: The common sense is that this is not going to be a one-off event. The solution of the abduction issue I would imagine will take a long time, and this is only the beginning I am sure of a long talk that is supported to continue. There is a possibility that the two-day meeting scheduled in Hanoi could be extended for another day or two. We are not excluding that possibility.
Q: Supposing that it is very difficult to define what is "successful" and what is "not successful" in terms of the outcome of this upcoming meeting, supposing that both sides agree to hold more rounds of talks after the Hanoi meeting, is there any chance that these rounds of talks could be held before the deadline of 60 days?
Mr. Taniguchi: Because of the time constraint, probably it would be fair to say that it will be difficult for North Korea and Japan to schedule another round in between the Hanoi meeting and the due date which is going to come 60 days after the end of the Six-Party Talks, but it will depend. I cannot tell exactly what will happen in Hanoi.
Q: This is a similar question to my first. If possible could we ask you what sort of criteria the Government of Japan has to hold the next round of such talks with the North Korean Government?
Mr. Taniguchi: I should say the following. In order for Japan to take part in the joint action that is supposed to be given to North Korea in terms of helping to provide energy to Pyongyang, there has got to be tangible progress in the abduction issue. Unless that happens, Japan is going to pay nothing in terms of energy support to North Korea.
There is also another category, which is the normalization talks between Pyongyang and Tokyo. In order for Japan to make the normalization of the diplomatic relationship, the abduction issue remains one of the important issues. All the other issues, the nuclear issue, the missile issue, make a total package. We are looking at this as a package, and North Korea has got to make considerable progress on each of these fronts before setting off normalization talks.
Q: Can you define this "tangible outcome" of the abduction issue?
Mr. Taniguchi: That is the one that I find very hard to define. Tangible in many ways, at least they are saying that there is nothing they can do about the abduction issue. That is a position that the Government of Japan cannot accept by any means. All "what if" questions would follow then, and it is very hard for me at this point to make any prediction about what the North Korean side will bring to the negotiation table, but at least they would have to say that they will resume full scale investigation about what has happened to the abductees. I think that is going to be one of the critical conditions that the Government of Japan is going to look at.
Q: May I ask you something more about logistics? Will any spokesperson for the Japanese Government such as you be attending this talk to give the press a chance to know what is happening over there?
Mr. Taniguchi: We have decided that no press officer, including myself, will be going to Hanoi, Viet Nam to give briefings to the press.
Q: No press conferences, no press opportunity for comments?
Mr. Taniguchi: I cannot tell you exactly now. There may be an opportunity or two for you to hear briefings by the members participating in the talks, but we are still working on scheduling those sorts of things. I still cannot tell you exactly what will happen. Are you thinking of going to Viet Nam yourself? Probably you will hear more later from my colleagues about the schedule and whether or not there are any press opportunities.
Related Information (Japan-North Korea Relations)
Back to Index