Press Conference 15 October 2002

1. Return of Minister for Foreign Affairs Yoriko Kawaguchi from the Russian Federation
2. Reaction to terrorist attack in Bali
3. Follow-up questions concerning Foreign Minister Kawaguchi's visit to Russia
4. Question on the return of Japanese nationals abducted by North Korea
5. Follow-up questions in relation to the terrorist attack in Bali

1. Return of Minister for Foreign Affairs Yoriko Kawaguchi from the Russian Federation

   Press Secretary Hatsuhisa Takashima: Good afternoon, thank you very much for coming to this briefing. I have two topics that I want to touch upon today, the first of which is Minister for Foreign Affairs Yoriko Kawaguchi's visit to the Russian Federation. Foreign Minister Kawaguchi has just completed her four-day visit to Moscow, returning to Tokyo this morning.

   On this trip, Foreign Minister Kawaguchi was able to successfully arrange the visit of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to Russia next January. The dates set for Prime Minister Koizumi's visit are his arrival in Moscow on 9 January and his stay until 11 January, when he will depart Moscow and return to Tokyo on the following day.

   Foreign Minister Kawaguchi had various meetings during her stay in Moscow, including meetings with President Vladimir Putin, for 40 minutes, and with Foreign Minister Igor Sergeevich Ivanov, for over six hours, including a working lunch and a working dinner, and through those meetings Foreign Minister Kawaguchi could arrange very good preparations for Prime Minister Koizumi's visit.

   Incidentally, Prime Minister Koizumi will be seeing President Putin on the occasion of the APEC Summit Meeting to be held later this month in Mexico, before he has a lengthy formal meeting with President Putin in Moscow in January.

   Foreign Minister Kawaguchi and Foreign Minister Ivanov hammered out the outline of an action plan that will be signed by Prime Minister Koizumi and President Putin in January. This action plan will be regarded as the chart for the bilateral relations between Japan and Russia in the twenty-first century. The Foreign Ministers discussed the possible content of this plan, and they both agreed that the plan had to include six main elements, including the further effort to conclude a peace treaty between our two countries, as well as a strengthened partnership on various issues in the global arena, and so forth.

   In addition to this discussion of the outline of the action plan, Foreign Minister Kawaguchi cochaired the Japan-Russia Intergovernmental Commission on Trade and Economic Issues with the Russian Deputy Prime Minister, and through this committee discussion both sides had very lengthy and detailed discussions on the current state of relations between our two countries and arrived at some of the outlines for future actions.

   Upon her return to Tokyo, Foreign Minister Kawaguchi expressed satisfaction with the results of her visit to Moscow, saying that although the visit was a relatively short one, it was very fruitful and productive, and she was looking forward to another visit to Moscow whenever the opportunity arises.

   Related Information (Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi's Visit to Russia)
   Related Information (Japan-Russia Relations)
   
2. Reaction to terrorist attack in Bali

   Mr. Takashima: Prime Minister Koizumi has sent a message of condolence to President Megawati Sukarnoputri of the Republic of Indonesia in which Prime Minister Koizumi strongly criticized and condemned terrorist activities. In addition to the Prime Minister's message, Foreign Minister Kawaguchi issued a very strong statement condemning terrorism.

   For our part, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, we have been checking on the state of Japanese tourists on the island of Bali, and so far we have information on nine Japanese tourists who were injured. To date, we do not have any report of Japanese tourists killed in the incident in Bali. However, there are some reports of missing people, and so we are still checking on this.

   In response to this terrorist attack, we issued another travel advisory caution to Japanese tourists to Indonesia in which we upgraded the caution for the island of Bali from the mildest one, which is "advised to exercise caution," to the upper one, which is a recommendation to "evaluate carefully the implications for tourist security and safety before deciding to travel." So that is the situation.

   Related Information (Japan-Indonesia Relations)
   
3. Follow-up questions concerning Foreign Minister Kawaguchi's visit to Russia

   Q: Did Foreign Minister Kawaguchi discuss the situation of the attribution of the four northern islands?

   Mr. Takashima: Foreign Minister Kawaguchi raised this issue in conjunction with that of a peace treaty between Japan and Russia, but not specifically on the state of the four islands because this issue has to be discussed directly between Prime Minister Koizumi and President Putin when they meet. However, during her talks with Foreign Minister Ivanov, as well as with President Putin, Foreign Minister Kawaguchi actually raised this issue of the necessity of having a peace treaty in which the territorial issue would be resolved and the border clearly finalized between out two countries.

   Foreign Minister Kawaguchi especially raised the necessity of having the peace treaty signed between our two countries, referring to Japanese business leaders' impressions that the absence of a peace treaty casts some doubt on the deepening of the economic relations between Japan and Russia.

   In return, I understand that President Putin said it is a sad and regrettable thing for Russia as well as Japan to be put into this very complicated situation because of things that we inherited from the past.

   We hope that this issue will be discussed further, and hopefully the situation regarding the discussion of the territorial dispute, in conjunction with the finalizing of a peace treaty, will be put forward when President Putin receives Prime Minister Koizumi in Moscow in January.

   Related Information (Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi's Visit to Russia)
   Related Information (Japan-Russia Relations)
   

   Q: Did Foreign Minister Kawaguchi also discuss the situation in the Middle East?

   Mr. Takashima: The Middle East situation was raised in talks with Foreign Minister Ivanov. The Russian Foreign Minister appreciated Japan's more active involvement in the Middle East situation, especially in Israeli-Palestinian relations. The Japanese side expressed its willingness to contribute more, particularly for the strengthening of the Palestinian Authority and to make the Palestinian Authority a viable partner for a meaningful dialogue of peace between the Palestinians and the Israelis.

   Related Information (Japan-Israel Relations)
   Related Information (Japan-Palestinian Authorities Relations)
   
4. Question on the return of Japanese nationals abducted by North Korea

   Q: The five surviving Japanese abductees are expected to arrive within the next half-hour. Could you comment on their return?

   Mr. Takashima: We are looking forward to their safe arrival at Haneda Airport, and we do hope that those five survivors will have a very good reunion with their families and that they will be able to enjoy their relatively short stay in Japan, and, hopefully, that they will be coming back again to Japan next time with their families.

   Related Information (Basic Policy On Japan- Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Normalization Talks)
   Related Information (Japan-North Korea Relations)
   
5. Follow-up questions in relation to the terrorist attack in Bali

   Q: You said that the Japanese Government raised the travel advisory warning to Bali. What does that involve?

   Mr. Takashima: The level two warning recommends tourists to think more carefully about their safety and security before deciding whether or not to travel to the island of Bali.

   Q: When was it issued?

   Mr. Takashima: Last night. Also, in this travel advisory, there is a strong warning to Japanese tourists to Bali not to go to crowded places or to possibly dangerous places while there.

   Q: During the holiday we wanted some news about the Japanese reaction, but we did not get any information. Do you think there is a chance for the foreign press to get some official data on Japan's official position during the holiday season?

   Mr. Takashima: Upon receiving the initial report of the blast, which has killed so many people on Bali, we started informing the press, but mostly Japanese press in this press club, and we have been updating that information almost constantly since then. When we got the official report from Indonesia that they had determined that the incident was not an accident but a terrorist attack we issued the statement from the Foreign Minister, which criticized and condemned that act of terrorism. Furthermore, in the message from Prime Minister Koizumi to President Megawati there was an offer for any sort of assistance to the Government of Indonesia in dealing with terrorism. We have been doing what we have to do, but if you cannot get the information from us let us discuss this later.

   Q: On these recent attacks, in Yemen, then in Bali, and maybe others, how does Japan look at these escalations? Do you think it reflects a failure of the so-called war on terrorism, as was announced by certain parties?

   Mr. Takashima: We recognize that there was a press report in the United States that the attacks might be the result of some sort of instruction by an al-Qaeda leader or some kind of organized attempt to carry out terrorist attacks in various places in the world. We do not have information confirming or denying that, but we do recognize that these terrorist attacks are real.

   As a member of the international community, Japan will also have to cope with these attacks and fight against them together with other countries, and that is the reason why Prime Minister Koizumi offered assistance to the Government of Indonesia, if there is any request from the Indonesians, and we are determined to fulfill our obligation to fight against terrorism on our part.

   Q: Does Japan feel that it is targeted?

   Mr. Takashima: At this moment we do not have any specific information on whether we are targeted by terrorist organizations, but we are taking precautions against any possible attacks, including tightening security around governmental offices and facilities and so forth.

   Related Information (Japan-Indonesia Relations)