Press Conference by the Press Secretary 28 September, 1999

1. International Cooperation Festival '99
2. Situation in North Korea
3. Situation in East Timor
4. Japan's contributions to the Multinational Forces in East Timor

1. International Cooperation Festival '99

   Press Secretary Sadaaki Numata: Good afternoon. I have a couple of announcements to make. The first one is about the International Cooperation Festival '99. Since 1990, 6 October has been designated as the International Cooperation Day. In connection with this International Cooperation Day, we are going to have the Ninth International Cooperation Festival at Hibiya Park in Tokyo this coming Saturday and Sunday, that is 2-3 October. Last year, 165,000 people came and the event is gaining increasing popularity. It is designed to foster the understanding and interest on the part of the Japanese people about international co-operation in general, that is Official Development Assistance (ODA) and other forms of international co-operation. There will be 180 organisations participating in this festival including, government agencies, international organisations and non-governmental organisations (NGOs). The catch phrase for this year is "Local Steps, Global Strides." There will be a number of events scheduled. For example, a symposium or a panel discussion, world ethnic concerts, fashion shows representing the fashions of various nations of the world, a demonstration by the Emergency Rescue Team, and counselling offered for those who may be interested to join international organisations and who may wish to work as volunteers in various parts of the world and so forth. I mention this in the hope that as many people as possible will come to see this occasion.

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2. Situation in North Korea

   Mr. Numata: Secondly, with respect to North Korea, as you know, on 24 September the Spokesman of the North Korean Foreign Ministry put out a statement and basically the same message was repeated by the Foreign Minister of North Korea in the United Nations in New York on 25 September. The key part of that statement is that there will be high-level talks for the settlement of pending issues between North Korea and the United States of America in response to the United States' requests, and that North Korea will suspend missile launches while the talks are underway. We welcome these statements as an important step which can move the relations between North Korea, on the one hand, and Japan, the United States and the Republic of Korea, on the other, in a good direction. These statements also reflect the progress being made in the relations between the United States and North Korea on the basis of the US-North Korea consultations that were held in Berlin the other day. We would like to express our high appreciation for the efforts on the part of the United States, which have brought about this progress. For our own part, we have the question of the steps that we took last year in the wake of the missile launch by North Korea, in August last year, and in that context we feel that the progress achieved thus far is an important element. At the same time, the North Korean statements say that they will suspend missile launches while the talks with the United States are underway. As far as our own responses to that are concerned, we would like to consider our responses from an overall perspective as we monitor the progress in the United States-North Korea consultations which will be going on.

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3. Situation in East Timor

   Mr. Numata: On East Timor, we dispatched a mission to Jakarta, West Timor and East Timor to study the situation on the ground. This mission was first headed by Director-General Hideaki Ueda of the Multilateral Cooperation Department, and then for the latter part, it was headed by Director Hiroto Hirakuba Refugee Assistance Division of the Foreign Ministry. Between 20 September and 24 September this mission conducted its survey in collaboration with the representatives of the Kingdom of Sweden, Kingdom of Thailand, the United Kingdom and the United States. According to the report of this mission, in West Timor, The Government of the Republic of Indonesia is making its efforts to support the refugees, but there are acute shortages, for example, in water supplies, sanitation-related goods and medical supplies. It was also observed that in the camps for refugees there seemed to be some presence of armed pro-integration militia members, and the security situation is not quite good.

   In East Timor there was a very considerable degree of devastation, perhaps to the degree of about 70 to 80 percent of the buildings in the city of Dili having been destroyed or damaged. After the deployment of the Multinational Force, the security situation has improved somewhat. Those people who fled to the mountains are beginning to come back little by little, but the situation in terms of security still remains volatile. With respect to those refugees who fled into the mountains, there is hardly any information and the only means of getting supplies to them is through the air-drops of food, for example, and the situation continues to be worrying.

   On our part, we would like to extend further humanitarian assistance to alleviate the plight of these people. We would like to do so on the basis of the report of this mission and also on the basis of the appeals to be made by international humanitarian organisations, which we expect to be made within a relatively short period of time.

   Q: On North Korea you said that Japan would keep an eye on the progress. What sort of progress would Japan like to see from these consultations before lifting its sanctions against North Korea?

   Mr. Numata: Well, firstly, the process that is now ongoing is something that we feel is a positive one in the wake of the United States-North Korea consultations in Berlin. It was on that basis that the United States, for its part, decided to ease a part of the sanctions that it had put in place. There were these statements by North Korea to the effect that they would suspend missile launches, but then they said "while the talks with the United States are underway." We have been saying for some time, that if North Korea freezes its plans to launch its missiles, then we, on our part, will be prepared to lift the steps that we took last year in the wake of the North Korean launch of the Taepodong missile. We note that, as I said at the outset, that all of these constitute important steps which we welcome. At the same time, we would like to have a very clear expression from the North Korean side, which will make it possible for us to feel that this plan on the part of North Korea to suspend the missile launch is a firm one, and perhaps we need to watch the situation a little more to be able to feel assured about that. This whole process is an ongoing process and it is very difficult to say at which point we would be able to say that this is it. It is in that sense that we say that we continue to monitor the situation, but while noting that the movements that are in train are positive.

   Q: Would you say that the statement made by the North Korean Spokesman was not good enough for Japan to lift the sanctions?

   Mr. Numata: I am not quite sure if I would say that. I think that it is possible to say that the North Korean statements seem to be coming closer to the idea of a freeze. For one thing, they had never said before that they would suspend the missile launch while the talks are underway; they did not say they would suspend the missile launch. Now, that is a positive one. But at the same time, since the process itself is important and since it is expected that there will be further United States-North Korea consultations in the coming weeks, because the possibility is being talked about of various North Korean consultations being resumed in early October and then again sometime later in the month, a North Korean senior official from the Foreign Ministry may be visiting the United States, the process still is ongoing and we will be interested in seeing how it transpires.

   Q: So as long as North Korea does not commit itself not to launch missiles in the future, Japan could not lift its sanctions?

   Mr. Numata: We would like to have a clear commitment from North Korea that it would not launch its missiles. Exactly at which point we will be able to say that there is a very clear commitment is something that we will have to make a judgement on in light of various factors, including, in particular, what transpires in the United States-North Korea talks.

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4. Japan's contributions to the Multinational Forces in East Timor

   Q: On the United Nations-led Multinational Forces in East Timor, when will Japan decide on the amount of the contributions it will make?

   Mr. Numata: We have been saying that we are prepared to make a substantial financial contribution to the Multinational Forces with a view to facilitating the participation of some of the developing countries which may feel that they would like to participate, although they might be financially hampered. For us to make that financial contribution, it is necessary for us to have some idea of the total magnitude of the operation in financial terms -- how much it costs. We are actively soliciting information in that regard to help us come to a judgement on that. We have been in touch intensively with the countries concerned, including Australia, and also the United Nations. I think that we still need some more information. You might say that this is sort of a chicken and egg situation. Let us say that efforts are being made by both sides to bring the chicken and the egg closer, if such a metaphor exists.

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