Japan-Russia Foreign Ministers’ Telephone Talks

On Friday, December 23, Minister for Foreign Affairs Koichiro Gemba had a telephone talk with Sergey Viktorovich Lavrov, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation for approximately 30 minutes from around 4 p.m. The overview of the telephone talk is as follows.

1. Foreign Minister Gemba stated the following.
(1) It is important that the new situation following the death of Kim Jong il, Chairman of the National Defense Commission of North Korea, will not have a negative impact on peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and in the region.
(2) For this reason, Japan intends to deal with the current situation calmly and appropriately through closely exchanging information with Russia. A ministerial meeting with the Secretary of State of the United States was held on December 19, followed by telephone talks with the foreign ministers of the Republic of Korea and the People’s Republic of China. Through these talks it was confirmed that they would closely work together. Japan will closely look at developments of the situation and wishes to cooperate closely with Russia.
(3) Under the current situation, Japan would like to have Russia’s further cooperation in order to resolve the abduction issue.

2. Foreign Minister Lavrov responded by stating that he shared recognition on the importance of maintaining stability on the Korean Peninsula. He also stated that Russia intended to cooperate closely with Japan and other partner countries of the Six-Party Talks in order to maintain peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and in the region. He also stated that Russia has consistently hoped that the abduction issue would be resolved through dialogues and negotiations between Japan and North Korea.

3. Both ministers agreed that cooperation between Japan and Russia on North Korean issues was in the strategic interest of both countries. They also agreed to continue their discussion during Foreign Minister Lavrov’s visit to Japan, which they had agreed to arrange in the near future. 

4. Foreign Minister Lavrov expressed his congratulations on the birthday of His Majesty the Emperor.

* The foregoing is a provisional translation. The date indicated above denotes the date of issue of the original press release in Japanese.