Press Conference 15 November 2002

1. Statement on the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO) Executive Board
2. Upcoming negotiations on an economic partnership agreement between Japan and the United Mexican States
3. Question concerning the Japanese defense attaché in Beijing

1. Statement on the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO) Executive Board

   Assistant Press Secretary Jiro Okuyama: Good afternoon. Today I have two announcements that I would like to make.

   Minister for Foreign Affairs Yoriko Kawaguchi is now away in Sydney, as we announced in the release on 14 November, to attend the Mini-Ministerial Conference. Yesterday, the events started with a working dinner, and Minister for Foreign Affairs Kawaguchi had four meetings, respectively with Minister of Economy Luis Ernest Derbez of the United Mexican States, Minister for Trade Mark Vaile of the Commonwealth of Australia, Director-General Supachai Panitchpakdi of the World Trade Organization (WTO), and Minister of Foreign Trade Youssef Boutros-Ghali of the Arab Republic of Egypt.

   I would like to start with the statement by the Press Secretary/Director-General for Press and Public Relations on the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO) Executive Board.

   The joint communiqué announced at the summit meeting of Japan, the United States and the Republic of Korea held in October in Los Cabos affirmed the basic principle that they will aim for a peaceful solution of North Korea's nuclear weapons program through the close cooperation of the three countries. Following this affirmation, Japan welcomes the fact that the Executive Board of the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO) was able to issue a clear message to North Korea on this issue through its Statement, as a result of the close consultations among Japan, the US and the Republic of Korea at the KEDO Executive Board meeting held on 14 November (local time).

   The Statement urges North Korea to promptly eliminate its nuclear weapons program in a visible and verifiable manner. It also states that heavy fuel oil will be provided in November, but that deliveries will be suspended beginning with the December shipment. The Statement makes clear that future shipments will depend on North Korea's concrete and credible actions to dismantle completely its highly-enriched uranium program, and that the Executive Board strongly urges a positive response from the North Korean side.

   The Government of Japan strongly hopes that the North Korean side will take this Statement seriously and will promptly take concrete action to dismantle its nuclear weapons program.

   As expressed in the Statement, Japan intends to continue strongly urging the North Korean side to make a positive response concerning its nuclear weapons program, utilizing such channels as Japan-North Korea normalization talks and Japan-North Korea security talks in close cooperation with both the US and the Republic of Korea.

   Related Information (Statement by the Press Secretary/Director-General for Press and Public Relations, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on KEDO Executive Board)
   
2. Upcoming negotiations on an economic partnership agreement between Japan and the United Mexican States

   Mr. Okuyama: The second announcement I would like to make is the commencement of the negotiations between Japan and Mexico for an agreement to reinforce the economic partnership between the two countries.

   The negotiations will take place next Monday, 18 November, at the Mita Conference Hall in Tokyo. The Japanese team will be headed by Ambassador for International Trade and Economic Affairs Ryuichiro Yamazaki of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and he will be joined by the relevant officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. On the Mexican side, the team will be headed by Deputy Minister of the Economy Angel Villa Lobos and will include relevant officials.

   In the meeting, they will discuss the framework for the negotiations between Japan and Mexico and the schedule of the dates of the negotiations and how the negotiations will be conducted. These will be the basic issues that will be dealt with between Japan and Mexico.

   This meeting is being held as a result of the agreement reached between the leaders of Japan and Mexico to launch negotiations to conclude an agreement to reinforce the economic partnership between the two countries when they met in Los Cabos in October this year.

   Related Information (Japan-Mexico Relations)
   Related Information (JOINT ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE PRIME MINISTER OF JAPAN AND THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED MEXICAN STATES ON THE INITIATION OF NEGOTIATIONS FOR CONCLUDING A BILATERAL AGREEMENT TO STRENGTHEN THEIR ECONOMIC PARTNERSHIP)
   
3. Question concerning the Japanese defense attaché in Beijing

   Q: The spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China said that the Japanese attaché acted against Chinese law and wanted the Government of Japan to recall him. Do you have any comments on that?

   Mr. Okuyama: The defense attaché that came back to Japan voluntarily, actually went into an area that is militarily restricted by mistake. But since the receiving country, that is the People's Republic of China, is of the view he should return to Japan voluntarily, we judged that practically speaking, he will no longer be able to perform his duties properly. Thus, we have decided to recall him on 13 November, which is the date he returned to Japan. The defense attaché in question returned to the Self Defense Agency as of 14 November.

   We actually made representations on 1 November from Ambassador of Japan to China Koreshige Anami in Beijing to the Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi. The representations were two-fold. First, for a person who has diplomatic status to be detained for so many hours and subjected to investigation is a violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and we would like to renew our strong protest at what happened. Second, we reserve our right to demand the voluntary return of a Chinese diplomat if a similar case happens in Japan in the future.

   Related Information (Japan-China Relations)