Statement by the Press Secretary/Director-General for Press and Public Relations, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on the International Code of Conduct against Ballistic Missile Proliferation (ICOC)

November 26, 2002

1. The Government of Japan welcomes the report that the Launching Conference of the International Code of Conduct against Ballistic Missile Proliferation (ICOC) was held in the Hague, the Netherlands, on November 25, and that the ICOC was adopted by more than 90 countries including Japan.
   
   
2. International efforts in the field of non-proliferation of missiles has formerly been limited to the framework of export control cooperation by some member countries through the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR). It is therefore meaningful that with the establishment of the ICOC, an international rule has been set up to prevent the proliferation of ballistic missiles capable of delivering weapons of mass destruction.
   
   
3. Japan intends to continue to work actively for the prevention of ballistic missile proliferation as an issue that directly concerns the security of Japan and the East Asian region, and it will cooperate with other participating countries to make the ICOC universal with greater and broader support.

Related Information (Missile Non-Proliferation)