Press Conference, 18 September 2007

Official launch of the "Terakoya" Pilot Program for Human Resource Development for Peacebuilding
51st IAEA General Conference in Vienna
Question concerning the rescheduling of the Six-Party Talks
Question concerning the effect of the forthcoming change in Prime Minister upon the Japanese Government policy on the abduction issue
Question concerning the rescheduling of the Tenth Japan-China Consultations on the East China Sea
Follow up question concerning the rescheduling of the Six-Party Talks

I. Official launch of the "Terakoya" Pilot Program for Human Resource Development for Peacebuilding

Deputy Press Secretary Tomohiko Taniguchi: Good afternoon, thank you very much for coming.

I have two brief announcements to make for my opening statement.

Firstly, last weekend, on Saturday, 15 September, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs officially launched what we call "Terakoya", the Pilot Program for Human Resource Development for Peacebuilding in Hiroshima.

Mr. Nobutaka Machimura, Minister for Foreign Affairs, sent a message to be read. H.E. Mr. Kenzo Oshima, Permanent Representative of Japan to the United Nations and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, and Ms. Carolyn McAskie, Head of the Peacebuilding Support Office (PBSO), delivered keynote speeches at the opening ceremony.

The members of the inaugural class include 15 Japanese and 14 Asian trainees. In addition to participating in the coursework in Hiroshima, these trainees will take special training sessions provided by a group of Japanese and foreign trainers as well as workshops in cooperation with five agencies*. After domestic training, they will take part in an overseas on-the-job training program in the local offices of international organizations all over the world from November to next March, 2008.

* Folke Bernadotte Academy (Sweden), Pearson Peacekeeping Centre (Canada), Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ)

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II. 51st IAEA General Conference in Vienna

Mr. Taniguchi: Second and last, the 51st IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) General Conference is now being held in Vienna. The conference started yesterday, Monday, 17 September and will end on Friday, 21 September.

As the representatives of the Government of Japan, among others, Mr. Yoshio Nakagawa, Senior Vice-Minister, Cabinet Office, and Mr. Yukiya Amano, Ambassador to the Permanent Mission of Japan to the International Organizations are attending the conference.

Related Information (Press Release)

III. Question concerning the rescheduling of the Six-Party Talks

Q: The Six-Party Talks plenary session has been postponed for some time. Do you have any updates? The latest that we have heard is that the state department said that it hopes that it is going to happen some time next week. Do you have any latest updates on that?

Mr. Taniguchi: No, I don't, in particular.

IV. Question concerning the effect of the forthcoming change in Prime Minister upon Japanese Government policy on the abduction issue

Q: I would just like to ask again the Foreign Ministry's policy on the abduction issue, because right now one of the possible successors to Mr. Abe, Mr. Fukuda, has somehow emphasized a policy more on dialog between North Korea, and Mr. Aso seems to be more keen on putting pressure on North Korea. Given these two stances, how would you assess Japan's policy, and how do want Japan's policies to be.

Mr. Taniguchi: On the abduction issue the policies of the Japanese Government have never changed. That is amongst the most important objectives of Japanese foreign policy at the moment. You may recall that in the last session of the bilateral talks between North Korea and Japan, we have offered an opportunity to talk about solving issues related to the unfortunate past.

It is important for both sides to sit together and discuss how to solve these issues including the abduction issue, and including the issues related to the unfortunate past. But it is also true that pressurizing North Korea has in many cases been very effective in bringing North Korea back to the negotiation table, so all in all very little is going to change.

V. Question concerning the rescheduling of the Tenth Japan-China Consultations on the East China Sea

Q: Just to confirm on the scheduling, I understand that in Sydney it was announced that the gas resource talks between Japan and China was to be held on 21 September. I was wondering if that is still the case.

Mr. Taniguchi: I understand that it has been postponed a little bit. I don't know when that is going to take place (Correction: Prospects of delay were reported prior to this press conference, but it was later reported that the meeting was in fact going to be held as scheduled.).

VI. Follow up question concerning the rescheduling of the Six-Party Talks

Q: How seriously concerned is the Foreign Ministry about this delay in the Six-Party Talks, given the timetable we have been hearing?

Mr. Taniguchi: About the Six-Party Talks the fact of the matter is that I don't know why this is being rescheduled.

It seems that the North Korean side approached the PRC (People's Republic of China) Government and said to them that they cannot come to the negotiation this time around. It is to be hoped that the North Korean side is going to come to the negotiation as soon as they possibly can; the sooner the better.

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