Press Conference 7 January 2003

1. Statement by the Press Secretary/Director-General for Press and Public Relations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the Resolution concerning North Korea at the January Meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of Governors
2. Statement by the Press Secretary/Director-General for Press and Public Relations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the Suicide Bombings in Israel
3. Statements on the Assistance for the National Program for the Control and Prevention of STI/HIV/AIDS in the Republic of Cuba and Terrorist Incident in the Republic of Chechnya
4. Visit by Minister for Foreign Affairs Yoriko Kawaguchi to the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka and the Republic of India
5. Upcoming visit to the Russian Federation by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi
6. Question concerning upcoming visit to the Russian Federation by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi
7. Question concerning Senkaku Islands
8. Question concerning reaction to the IAEA Board of Governors' resolution
9. Follow-up question concerning Senkaku Islands
10. Question concerning Japan's policy on situation in Iraq
11. Question concerning family member of abductee

1. Statement by the Press Secretary/Director-General for Press and Public Relations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the Resolution concerning North Korea at the January Meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of Governors

   Assistant Press Secretary Jiro Okuyama: Good afternoon. First of all, Happy New Year. Today I have several announcements that I would like to make.

   The first is about the statement by the Press Secretary on the Resolution concerning North Korea at the January Meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of Governors.

   The Government of Japan attaches great importance to the fact that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of Governors adopted by consensus the resolution concerning the "Implementation of the Safeguards Agreement with North Korea" on 6 January in Vienna and that the Board was able to issue a clear and unified message to North Korea, expressing the international community's grave concern over North Korea.

   Japan strongly hopes that North Korea will take this resolution seriously, together with the one that was adopted by consensus on 29 November last year, stop immediately every action which North Korea has taken to lift the freeze of the nuclear facilities, restore the seals, immediately resume talks with the IAEA and quickly take concrete action to abolish in a verifiable manner its plans for nuclear development.

   The purpose of the resolution is: to express the IAEA's deplorement in the strongest terms over North Korea's unilateral acts, such as lifting the freeze of nuclear facilities by removing and impeding the functioning of containment and surveillance equipment and expelling the IAEA inspectors, actions which have rendered the IAEA's verification activities pursuant to its safeguards agreement with the DPRK impossible; to state that such acts of North Korea are of great non-proliferation concern; and to call on North Korea to cooperate urgently and fully with the IAEA by, for example, re-establishing the required containment and surveillance measures, allowing the IAEA to implement fully and at all times, all the required safeguard measures including the return of the IAEA inspectors, and immediately meeting with IAEA officials.

   As a member of the Board of Governors of the IAEA, Japan intends to strive for the peaceful solution of the issue while consulting closely with the countries concerned, including the United States and the Republic of Korea, in cooperation with other interested countries, such as China and Russia, and with the IAEA.

   Related Information (The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan (MOFA))
   
2. Statement by the Press Secretary/Director-General for Press and Public Relations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the Suicide Bombings in Israel

   Mr. Okuyama: The second announcement is about the statement by the Press Secretary on the suicide bombings in Israel on 6 January.

   The Government of Japan was shocked to hear that two successive suicide bombings occurred in the center of Tel Aviv in the early hours of 6 January, killing many civilians. The Japanese Government expresses its deepest condolences to the bereaved families and heartfelt sympathy to those injured by the suicide bombings.

   Terrorism cannot be justified for whatever reason. The Government of Japan reiterates its resolute condemnation against such acts of terrorism aimed at innocent civilians.

   It is deplorable that these savage terror attacks occurred once again, in spite of the effort by the international community for ending the violence. Japan once again strongly urges Chairman Arafat and the Palestinian Authority to make utmost efforts to crackdown against extremists and expects that both Israelis and Palestinians will maintain their dialogue for peace and exercise maximum restraint.

   Related Information (Statement by the Press Secretary/Director-General for Press and Public Relations, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on the Suicide Bombings in Israel)
   
3. Statements on the Assistance for the National Program for the Control and Prevention of STI/HIV/AIDS in the Republic of Cuba and Terrorist Incident in the Republic of Chechnya

   Mr. Okuyama: There is also a press release on the Assistance for the National Program for the Control and Prevention of STI/HIV/AIDS in the Republic of Cuba dated 6 January.

   Related Information (Assistance for the National Program for the Control and Prevention of STI/HIV/AIDS in the Republic of Cuba)
   

   I would also like to draw your attention to the statement by Minister for Foreign Affairs Yoriko Kawaguchi issued on 28 December last year concerning the terrorist incident in the Republic of Chechnya.

   Related Information (Statement by Ms. Yoriko Kawaguchi, Minister for Foreign Affairs, on the Terrorist Incident in the Republic of Chechnya)
   
4. Visit by Minister for Foreign Affairs Yoriko Kawaguchi to the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka and the Republic of India

   Mr. Okuyama: As for Minister for Foreign Affairs Kawaguchi, as we announced earlier, she is now flying from Colombo to Delhi. Yesterday, she had very fruitful meetings with President Chandrika Kumaratunga, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, and Foreign Minister Tyronne Feranando of Sri Lanka, and she confirmed with the Sri Lankan leadership that the two countries would work toward peace and reconstruction in the region. She mentioned various specific items of economic cooperation, which include six yen loan projects, grassroots assistance for non-governmental organizations (NGOs) operating there and also grant assistance. If you need the details, I can give them to you later.

   In India, she is scheduled to see Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha, pay a courtesy call on Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and also on President APJ Abdul Kalam.

   She is expected to be back in Tokyo on 9 January.

   Related Information (Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi's Visit to Sri Lanka and India)
   Related Information (Grassroots Grant Aid to Sri Lanka)
   
5. Upcoming visit to the Russian Federation by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi

   Mr. Okuyama: Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is going to the Russian Federation and will leave here on 9 January, and a Summit talk with President Vladimir Putin is scheduled in the afternoon of 10 January. Following this, there will be a signing ceremony and a joint press conference the same afternoon. He will make a speech at the Kurchatov Institute in the morning of 11 January. Later that afternoon, he will move from Moscow to Khabarovsk and stay there one day. In the afternoon of 12 January, he will have a press conference, which is scheduled to be broadcast live to Japan.

   Related Information (Japan-Russia Relations)
   
6. Question concerning upcoming visit by Prime Minister Koizumi to the Russian Federation

   Q: Could you go into some detail regarding the agenda of Prime Minister Koizumi and President Putin?

   Mr. Okuyama: First of all, this is the third official prime ministerial visit to Russia after the normalization of relations between the two countries. We have seen active bilateral relations with Russia, which are symbolized by the various political dialogues that we had throughout the course of last year. We are also witnessing a major change in the international situation, especially in the Northeast Asia situation, which is closely related to Russia.

   We expect that Prime Minister Koizumi's visit and direct exchange of views in a very candid manner with President Putin on bilateral and international issues will lead to the further reinforcement of the relationship of trust between the two. We expect various things to come up in the Summit talks. As the Prime Minister mentioned himself yesterday, North Korea and economic cooperation between Japan and Russia will be two of the major topics.

   We are expecting to issue a Japan-Russia action plan, which we hope to make available in English, but we are still working on this. There will definitely be Japanese and Russian versions. We expect this action plan to summarize the cooperation that has thus far transpired between the two countries and also the general directions for the future of various items in very far, wide-ranging fields. We expect this document to become a navigational map, as it were, of the relations between the two countries.

   We expect that the Summit talks will spend some time on in-depth discussion about the conclusion of a peace treaty between the two countries. This will be one of the topics to be taken up in the action plan. We would like to seek an early resolution of this peace treaty issue while working on very broad-based cooperation between Japan and Russia.

   Perhaps I might say that this action plan is not limited to the economic field, which has been the characteristic of past important, bilateral documents between Japan and Russia. Thus, we hope that this will cover political dialogue, cooperation in the international arena, trade and economic cooperation as well as other matters. I would like you to have a somewhat concrete image of what the two leaders will discuss, because their discussions will be solidly reflected in this document.

   Q: Will there be any move to push the disputes over the four northern islands to the side and still move ahead toward peace?

   Mr. Okuyama: We have no intention of sidelining the peace treaty issue.

   For your information, Prime Minister Koizumi will visit Khabarovsk, which is the economic and political center of Far East Russia. This region is an area that is in close proximity geographically to Japan, and we have consistently attached importance to developing Japan's relations with this part of Russia. We hope that Prime Minister Koizumi's visit to the city will provide further momentum for reinforcing relations between Japan and this region in particular. We also have history, whereby a large number of Japanese were held in Siberia, so I think Prime Minister Koizumi's visit in this sense too will be very significant.

   Q: Would you say that the territorial issue will not see much progress until the elections next year? What do you think of this opinion?

   Mr. Okuyama: The territorial issue is something that we need to resolve at an early date, and both countries have different circumstances. On the Russian side, there are considerations and expectations about the reinforcement of bilateral ties. On our side, we have our own expectations about the very broad-based cooperation to take place and to further expand in the future. However, that must, in our view, happen side by side with the resolution of the territorial issue. So that is our position, and we would like to see both processes happening at the same time: expansion of ties together with the resolution of the territorial issue.

   Related Information (Japan-Russia Relations)
   
7. Question concerning Senkaku Islands

   Q: I have a question regarding the other territorial issue. The Government of China protested about the current situation concerning the Senkaku Islands. Could you please explain the current situation surrounding those islands plus the reason why such a thing happened?

   Mr. Okuyama: There have been exchanges, and the most recent one was yesterday from 15:00 for about 30 minutes, when the Ambassador of the People's Republic of China in Tokyo paid a call on Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Yukio Takeuchi. The Ambassador said that basically the Government of Japan's unilateral act is something that the Government of China cannot accept. This unilateral act refers to the lease of a piece of land that belongs to a private owner.

   Secondly, Ambassador Wu Dawei's point was that Japan should refrain from inflicting damage to the Chinese territory and also the bilateral relations between Japan and China. This judgment should be made from an overall perspective of the relations between the two countries.

   Mr. Takeuchi responded by saying that the Senkaku Islands are inherent Japanese territory, both historically as well as in terms of international law. Japan exercises effective control over the islands, and Japan cannot accept the message that the Ambassador of China conveyed to the Japanese side. Japan is also of the view that it is important for the governments concerned to deal with this issue in a quiet and peaceful manner so that the overall bilateral relations will not be damaged by this current measure.

   I do not really have anything to add to what Mr. Takeuchi announced yesterday.

   Q: Could you just explain the reason why the Government of Japan decided to lease the land?

   Mr. Okuyama: This act has been in place for some time now, it is not something that happened overnight. The Senkaku Islands actually belong to a private citizen of Japan, and it was our judgment that it might be a good idea to lease land from that private owner, and that is what we are doing.

   Q: Do you have the name of the private owner?

   Mr. Okuyama: I will have to check, and may be able to come back to you on that.

   Related Information (Basic View on Senkaku 1972)
   
8. Question concerning reaction to the IAEA Board of Governors' resolution

   Q: On the IAEA Board of Governors' resolution, do you have any information on the reaction of the Governments of Russia and China on this issue?

   Mr. Okuyama: I will have to check on that. I have not received any information as to what specific countries' reactions are, including Russia and China.

   Q: In some circles, they doubt the actions by the Governments of Russia and China and say that they are just making some diplomatic gestures, but since they have a strong influence, it is imperative that they influence North Korea. How do you feel about this?

   Mr. Okuyama: There were many contacts at high levels of government between Japan and China last year. Minister for Foreign Affairs Kawaguchi visited Beijing. There were a number of other occasions where Prime Minister Koizumi had a chance to speak to the leadership of China, such as at Los Cabos, Mexico, on the occasion of APEC and Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on the occasion of the ASEAN+3 meeting. On all these occasions, we came to the common view that something must be done to restrain North Korea. We also asked for China's cooperation in doing whatever it can to push the matter forward, both in terms of normalization talks between Japan and North Korea and this nuclear development issue.

   Russia was also helpful in conveying to the North Korean leadership what Japan thinks, so perhaps it may be a bit too far-flung to say that in this instance they are just simply pretending, instead of actually doing.

   We hope that Russia and China will do their utmost in their respective good relationships with North Korea to press upon North Korea that it should revert back from the path of nuclearization to where they were, meaning the freeze and relinquishing any programs that they may have in developing nuclear weapons.

   Q: I understand that the IAEA Chairman stated that if no positive development came out in the next few weeks that the United Nations Security Council would take up the issue. I am wondering, in the flow of developments since North Korea first came out admitting to their nuclear program, how serious would you describe this latest development?

   Mr. Okuyama: It is a bit difficult to say. At the moment, we are discussing what we should do in Washington in a forum called the Trilateral Coordination and Oversight Group (TCOG) between Japan, the United States of America and the Republic of Korea. We are expecting a joint press statement to be issued at the end of the meeting, which is supposed to finish on Tuesday. We would prefer to wait until we complete our consultation with the two other partners.

   The IAEA is one channel and a very good avenue to forge international consensus and thereby apply solid, international pressure on North Korea. We certainly hope that North Korea will heed the message that has been adopted by consensus by the international community.

   As to how we should evaluate the seriousness of the situation, it is a bit difficult to say. We have our wish, and we can only simply hope that North Korea will revert back on the path.

   Q: Can you confirm that direct channels are still open between Japan and North Korea?

   Mr. Okuyama: Yes. One of the things is that ever since the end of the normalization talks in Kuala Lumpur at the end of October, up to then and also from then onward, our direct channels have been open in Beijing and elsewhere. We asked many questions about the factual details of those abductees who are said to be deceased and have been strongly requesting that the family members of the five abductees, who have stayed in Japan ever since their return, come over to Japan, of course with the approval of the North Korean authorities. So we have used this channel to convey these messages on and off continuously up to now, over the year-end and this year.

   We cannot specifically say what kinds of requests we made on what date, but the channel has always been open and is still open now.

   Related Information (Statement by the Press Secretary/Director-General for Press and Public Relations, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on the Resolution concerning North Korea at the January Meeting of the IAEA Board of Governors)
   Related Information (Japan-North Korea Relations)
   
9. Follow-up question concerning Senkaku Islands

   Q: Can you first confirm the report that the Government of Japan has leased three of the Senkaku Islands? If true, what is the purpose of leasing them, since we know that there is no one actually living on them?

   We know that the governments in Beijing and Taiwan are very unhappy about it and have protested it. What is the view of the Government of Japan on this?

   Mr. Okuyama: To answer both your questions, the private owner is someone who lives in Saitama Prefecture. However, since it is a private contract between the Government and that individual, we cannot reveal the actual name of who that is.

   I will check if there is a specific reason that we can give you.

   Q: If we cannot confirm the identity, do we say that he is a landowner, or what is his profession, since we cannot identify the person by name?

   Mr. Okuyama: I repeat that we cannot reveal the name. What we can say is that this person is an individual who lives in Saitama Prefecture.

   Q: It makes me wonder, because this conflict started sometime last year. It has not been ongoing for five, six, seven years. During that time, there have been occasions like Mr. Ishihara, some people getting very close to the island and somehow getting on the island, and some right-wing political groups set up a lighthouse. Why?

   Mr. Okuyama: I will have to come back to you on that.

   Q: The Government of China is very unhappy about this move. What is the explanation by the Government of Japan?

   Mr. Okuyama: Yesterday, the gist of the message of the Chinese Ambassador in Tokyo was that these islands and the Government of Japan's unilateral actions relating to these islands and the lease are unlawful, and null and void, which China cannot accept. This is the very reason the Chinese side gave to the Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs. He followed up by saying that the Japanese side should prevent further possible damage to the Chinese territory and China's bilateral relations with Japan.

   I would rather refrain from speculating why the Chinese side is so offended by this act. It is our land, and the private citizen who actually owns the islands is a Japanese citizen, so the starting point is totally different between the two countries. However, our view is that the islands are inherent Japanese territory, both historically and in terms of international law.

   Q: The dispute over these islands has not been very high on the agenda, and the Government of Japan has this kind of passive attitude in that they do not really want to deal with it, but this move was quite provocative, so I wonder why now? Why decide to raise the issue of these islands now? What is the purpose behind this? What is the reason for the timing?

   Mr. Okuyama: As to the reason why the Government decided to lease this land, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is not in a position to comment. Perhaps, I might refer you to the Cabinet Office.

   Q: Does that mean that it was a Cabinet Office initiative and not one of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs?

   Mr. Okuyama: Actually, acquiring the lease of the land is not within the purview of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

   Q: Does China recognize the ownership by the Japanese citizen of those islands?

   Mr. Okuyama: If you follow the logical sequence of the thinking by China, since they are Chinese territory, I do not think that it would be conceivable that one Japanese citizen has the rights to the land on these islands.

   Q: The owner's name is Kurihara. It has been revealed.

   Mr. Okuyama: Thank you very much for telling me.

   Q: Is there a chance that Prime Minister Koizumi will ask President Putin to lease the four islands from Russia in the same way?

   Mr. Okuyama: The formula as to how Japan and Russia will resolve the issues of these four islands has not been decided yet. I think that the two leaders will take up this issue and from the Japanese point of view, since they are ours, we would like them to return the four islands to us in one way or another, but I cannot prejudge how specifically the two leaders will discuss this issue.

   Related Information (Basic View on Senkaku 1972)
   
10. Question concerning Japan's policy on situation in Iraq

    Q: I read many reports quoting high government officials, including Mr. Yamasaki, Secretary General of the LDP, saying that Japan would help in the reconstruction of Iraq. Can you confirm that this is a Japanese policy?

    Mr. Okuyama: This is something that cropped up yesterday when Prime Minister Koizumi spoke about his attitude on the issue of Iraq. He said that on the basis of international cooperation, and also in view of the alliance relationship with the United States, the Government of Japan would like to deal with this issue. We think that there are various factors involved: the possession by Iraq of weapons of mass destruction and the possible proliferation of these weapons. These are a source of concern for the international community as a whole. We also need to consider the safety of Japanese nationals involved.

    So we would like to consider what we can do, using our own positive judgment. For instance, assistance to refugees and neighboring countries. Together with these two, we are actually considering various options but the Government has not come to a specific conclusion as to what we would do in the hopefully unlikely event that military action by the armed forces of various countries became inevitable as a result of the material breech of the UN Security Council resolutions by Iraq.

    An armed attack is something that we are still only talking about in a hypothetical sense. Certainly, I would like to very strongly underline this. However, if this hypothetical case were to become a reality, we are considering various options, but we have not come to one conclusion or another as to what we would actually do.

    Related Information (Japan-Iraq Relations)
    Related Information (Japan's Diplomatic Efforts on the Issue of Iraq)
    
11. Question concerning family member of abductee

    Q: I have read many reports that the Government has asked for the granddaughter of the Yokotas to visit Japan. Did North Korea respond to the request, and how?

    Mr. Okuyama: I can only make a general remark on this. As I explained earlier, we are asking North Korea two things. First, to let the family members of the five abductees that are now in Japan come to Japan. Second, we need to know a lot of things relating to how the remaining abductees who are said to be deceased actually died. We have been doing this continuously even before and also after the first normalization talks at the end of October.

    The granddaughter, Kim Hye Gyong, is an element of the first pillar of the two issues, but as to whether we actually asked North Korea to allow her to come to Japan and at which time is not something that we can comment on. Specific timing and actions that we have taken or will take in the future is something that we cannot reveal at this moment.

    Q: But did the Ministry of Foreign Affairs get any response?

    Mr. Okuyama: I am afraid that we cannot answer that question either.

    Related Information (Japan-North Korea Relations)