Press Conference 20 September 2002

1. Introduction
2. Visit to Japan by President John Agyekum Kufuor of the Republic of Ghana
3. Statement concerning the situation in the Middle East
4. Question regarding inspection of North Korean nuclear facilities
5. Questions concerning the abductees
6. Questions in relation to the normalization of relations with North Korea
7. Question on the composition of the mission to North Korea

1. Introduction

   Press Secretary Hatsuhisa Takashima: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you very much for coming. As most of you might know, I am a newcomer here. My name is Hatsuhisa Takashima, and I have been newly appointed as Press Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Today, at the outset, I have some announcements to make.

2. Visit to Japan by President John Agyekum Kufuor of the Republic of Ghana

   Mr. Takashima: Today we have announced the visit to Japan of President John Agyekum Kufuor of the Republic of Ghana. President Kufuor will make an official working visit to Japan from 20 to 24 October, accompanied by his wife, Mrs. Kufuor. Further details will be available on request.

   Related Information (Visit to Japan of President of Ghana, and Mrs. Theresa Kufuor)
   
3. Statement concerning the situation in the Middle East

   Mr. Takashima: Secondly, some of you might have noticed that yesterday the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement under my name in regard to the suicide bombing in Tel Aviv, condemning the suicide bombing and urging, firstly, Chairman Yasser Arafat and the Palestinian authorities to stop repetition of this type of act and, at the same time, urging the Israeli Government to exercise maximum restraint in reacting to that act.

   Related Information (Statement on the Suicide Bombing in Israel)
   

   Today we have learned that the Israeli forces have already moved into Chairman Arafat's compound and tried to isolate the Chairman. We believe that this type of act does not help to solve the situation, and we urge the Israeli Government to stop trying to isolate Chairman Arafat. We reiterate our strong request to Chairman Arafat and the Palestinian authorities to exert maximum effort to arrest those responsible for this act of suicide bombing and to try to stop the repetition of this kind of dastardly act.

   Those are the announcements I wanted to make, and I would be happy to answer any questions that you may have.

   Related Information (Statement on the siege of the compound of Palestinian Authority Chairman)
   
4. Question regarding inspection of North Korean nuclear facilities

   Q: I am seeking some clarification on whether the North Koreans said they would allow international inspectors into their nuclear facilities. The statement was rather vague, but Japanese officials said that Mr. Kim spoke of allowing inspectors into his country.

   Mr. Takashima: Prime Minister Koizumi said that General Secretary Kim Jong-Il of North Korea personally told him that North Korea would accept full inspection and adhere to international agreements, including those of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the agreed framework between North Korea and the United States, and so forth. So my understanding is that North Korea promised to accept international inspection.

   Related Information (Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's Visit to North Korea)
   
5. Questions concerning the abductees

   Q: About the abductees, I wonder if we could get the numbers straightened out. We started off looking for 11 missing Japanese, then the North Koreans accounted for 8 dead, 4 alive, and 1 they knew nothing about: that comes up to 13. Is that correct.

   Mr. Takashima: Eleven is the number that the Japanese Government recognized as possible abduction cases, and then the North Korean side added more information. We have not had any confirmation on the identification of the reported case of the fifth person, who is still alive and living in North Korea, but so far we understand that 4 Japanese are still living in North Korea, 8 are supposed to be dead, 1 missing, and 1 more unknown person is still living: that comes to 14.

   Q: Can you speak a little bit about why the information in detail on the dead Japanese was not released right away.

   Mr. Takashima: This is what we have been explaining to the press since that information surfaced. Actually, it occurred during the very hectic hours just prior to the commencement of the meeting between Prime Minister Koizumi and General Secretary Kim Jong-Il.

   Shortly before the summit meeting started, the North Korea side handed to the Japanese side a list of the names of the abduction cases with information about their current situation, if they are alive or dead, with names and date of birth. In that information there was no mention of date of death.

   After that, the North Korean interpreter handed over to the Japanese interpreter a paper in which the same information plus the date of death was written in the Korean language as if it were unofficial information submitted from the North Korean side to the Japanese side.

   When that information was handed over, the Japanese official had already left the room, and the interpreter later handed that paper to the Japanese official when the summit meeting had already started.

   When translation of that information was finished, still the Japanese side was not sure if the information was accurate, or official information, or something else. Therefore, the Japanese official held it as a non-official document, information, but could not make any attempt to clarify it with the North Korean counterpart because of the time constraint. That was what happened in Pyongyang.

   Because of that sort of rather confused and complicated situation, the initial information given to the families of the victims from the Chief Cabinet Secretary did not contain any reference to the date of death.

   Q: Did you subsequently confirm that this was accurate information?.

   Mr. Takashima: Unfortunately, we still cannot get any sort of confirmation or clarification; that includes all the information we have been given by the North Korean side.

   Q: Can you elaborate on how Mr. Umemoto met with the people reported to be alive and how he confirmed they were indeed the people on the list of the Japanese Government?.

   Mr. Takashima: Mr. Umemoto said he had no confirmation as such, but he exchanged words in Japanese with them, and he got the impression that they were the ones.

   Q: Did he ask the families about any sort of physical characteristics prior to his visit to North Korea.

   Mr. Takashima: Mr. Umemoto was appointed as a kind of interviewer to the families shortly before he actually visited those people in Pyongyang, and, therefore, he was not fully prepared with that sort of information. I understand that one of the five people he met showed some sort of a scar on their leg, telling Mr. Umemoto that this was a scar that members of their family would remember, or something like that.

   Q: He did not have anything else, other information, to verify that the people he met in Pyongyang were the people on the list?

   Mr. Takashima: All of the information is available to the members of the families, and there is no additional evidence.

   Q: Just to verify: Is there any sort of information that he could give them for him to be sure that those people actually are the people who were abducted.

   Mr. Takashima: We assume so, and we believe so. They will be either visiting or coming back to Japan, or the members of the families will be seeing them in Pyongyang. I do not know when it will take place at this moment. But Mr. Kim Jong-Il promised to Prime Minister Koizumi that their reunion will be materialized, and the North Korean side will certainly assist with that.

   Q: You said earlier that you assume and believe that those are the people in question. What do you base your assumption on.

   Mr. Takashima: We have released the list, and we have information as to who those four are.

   Related Information (Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's Visit to North Korea)
   
6. Questions in relation to the normalization of relations with North Korea

   Q: I heard that Prime Minister Koizumi said he expected readiness to prepare rice aid to North Korea. If there are such plans, I would like to ask what the details of that aid are. Secondly, it was said that resolving the abduction issue was one of the biggest hurdles to normalizing relations. Has that issue been cleared, first of all, and what are the other hurdles to be cleared before Japan normalizes its ties? What are the coming conditions.

   Mr. Takashima: First of all, the issue is not cleared, or resolved, simply because we need more information, and we have to clarify so many things. Therefore, this issue will be resolved during the course of negotiations for normalization. The hurdles: The things we have to clarify are how, when, and where, those abductions took place, and what happened with the victims. We and the members of the families wish to know all that information. We have to try very hard.

   Q: On the rice issue, I read in the wires that Japan was prepared to send rice aid to North Korea. Are there any preparations going on.

   Mr. Takashima: What sort of assistance or aid we will give will be decided also through the talks. Have you read the joint statement in which the Japanese side promised that when the normalization talks come to conclusion, all necessary economic cooperation would be given? There is, however, no specification of the types of assistance. Those are yet to be decided.

   Q: So the aid will only be given once the normalization talks are concluded.

   Mr. Takashima: It depends on the negotiations in the talks..

   Q: Is there a possibility that, depending on the information, the Japanese Government would decide not to continue talks to normalize ties.

   Mr. Takashima: Actually, the talks have not started. We are standing in front of the door, our hand is on the door knob, and we will open the door. What will happen after that--well, we hope the North Korean side will take a serious and sincere attitude for meaningful talks.

   Q: There are a lot of numbers going around about how much aid will be given. Is there any sort of discussion going on right now in terms of deciding how much economic assistance will be given if the normalization of relations is realized.

   Mr. Takashima: There is no figure yet.

   Q: Is there any discussion going on.

   Mr. Takashima: This is one of the agenda items of the talks, so we will see.

   Q: It was not clear to me whether you said that clarification of the kidnappings would come before the talks..

   Mr. Takashima: No, it comes as part of the normalization talks.

   Q: In light of the heavy criticism on the abduction cases, is it at all possible to start the normalization talks as it was stated in the joint communique? Further, is there any precondition that Japan will attach for the resumption of normalization talks.

   Mr. Takashima: To answer your first question, there is criticism--we recognize it, and we are carefully examining it. But at the same time, in my understanding, there is also widespread support for Prime Minister Koizumi's visit to North Korea and the direct talks that he had with General Secretary Kim Jong-Il. We hope that the Japanese public will give the same support for the resumption of the talks from October this year, and during the course of those talks we will try our best to solve the abduction issue by getting full information on the cases and realizing the reunion of the families. We will try our best for an early visit by the members of the families of the victims in order that they themselves can get complete information from the North Korean side.

   On the question of whether there would be any precondition attached, we do not think there will be any other preconditions attached in addition to the conditions laid out during the course of the discussion between Prime Minister Koizumi and General Secretary Kim Jong-Il. We expect that talks will be resumed in October, as scheduled, and we hope that the North Korean side will come to the negotiations with a sincere and serious attitude.

   Q: That means there are no possibilities for the families to send information or an information-gathering mission before the start of normalization talks?.

   Mr. Takashima: I do not know the answer, because what I understand is that these issues, the abduction case issues, will be discussed as part of the normalization talks, and, therefore, from today to the beginning of the discussion in October, I am not quite sure if there is any sort of prior negotiation or prior arrangement of the visit, but rather these issues will be discussed as part of the negotiations. That is my understanding. At least as of today there is no kind of consideration of the type that you have just raised.

   Related Information (Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's Visit to North Korea)
   
7. Question on the composition of the mission to North Korea

   Q: Mr. Umemoto is attached to the Japanese Embassy in London. Why is he on the mission to Pyongyang.

   Mr. Takashima: Mr. Umemoto was a member of the Japanese delegation. We have all sorts of diplomats stationed around the world, and one may be simply appointed as a member of a delegation, but Mr. Umemoto's prior post was as head of the North East Asian section, and he is one of the experts on Japan-North Korea relations.

   Related Information (Japan-North Korea Relations)