Press Conference 6 April 2004

1. Emergency grant of assistance for Liberia by the Japan Platform
2. Statement by Press Secretary Takashima regarding the Sri Lankan parliamentary election
3. Ministeral meeting of peace consolidation and economic development of the Western Balkans
4. Questions regarding the recent situation in Iraq
5. Question regarding the situation in North Korea
6. Questions regarding the recent situation in Iraq

1. Emergency grant of assistance for Liberia by the Japan Platform

   Assistant Press Secretary Jiro Okuyama. Good afternoon. I have a few announcements to make at the onset. The first item is about the emergency grant of assistance for Liberia by the Japan platform. The Japan platform established in cooperation with the government of Japan, the Japan business community and NGOs (Non-government Organizations) decided on April 5 (Mon) to extend emergency assistance of about 165 million yen funded by the government for the activities proposed by three JPF-affiliated NGOs to support repatriation of Liberian refugees and internally displaced persons in Liberia. Details were given in the press release which was issued yesterday.

   Related Information (Emergency Grant Assistance for Liberia by the Japan Platform (JPF))
   
2. Statement by Press Secretary Takashima regarding the Sri Lankan parliamentary election

   Mr. Okuyama: Next is a statement by Press Secretary Takashima regarding the Sri Lankan parliamentary election. As one of the co-chairs of the Tokyo Conference on Reconstructions and Development in Sri Lanka, the Government of Japan, taking into account the assessment by the mission and others, applauds that the election was conducted in a largely free, fair and peaceful manner throughout the country, although there were some isolated cases of violations of election laws and other malpractices. The Government of Japan also evaluates that the mission was able to perform its duties smoothly.

   The Government of Japan has been implementing its assistance in reconstruction and development of Sri Lanka based on the principles of the Tokyo Declaration with a view to supporting the advancement of the peace process in Sri Lanka. The Government of Japan strongly hopes that a responsible new government will be established expeditiously responding to the election result, so that the peace talks will be resumed as soon as possible and thus substantial progress will be achieved as soon as possible and thus substantial progress will be achieved in the peace process.

   Related Information (Statement by Mr. Hatsuhisa Takashima, Press Secretary/Director-General for Press and Public Relations, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, regarding the Sri Lankan Parliamentary Election)
   
3. Ministeral meeting of peace consolidation and economic development of the Western Balkans

   Mr. Okuyama: And finally I would like to draw your attention to the Ministerial Conference on Peace Consolidation and Economic Development of the Western Balkans which took place in Tokyo yesterday, whereby Foreign Minister Kawaguchi gave the opening address in which she stressed Japan's active involvement in the issues in the Western Balkans under the three pillars, namely peace consolidation, economic development and regional cooperation.

   Mrs. Kawaguchi's speech together with the speech by Goodwill Ambassador Dragan Stojkovic and also the Joint Conclusions of this conference will be made available together with the outline of the results of the conference on both the Japanese and English websites of the Japanese Foreign Ministry. The Foreign Ministers and Economic Ministers of the five Western Balkan countries, namely, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, FYRO Macedonia, and Serbia and Montenegro, together with the Goodwill Ambassador, will pay a courtesy call on Prime Minister Koizumi later today. At the meeting this afternoon, they will exchange views on the peace consolidation, economic development and regional cooperation and other issues in the Western Balkans and also Prime Minister Koizumi will sign the peace ball, that is a soccer ball signed by the Heads of State of the five Western Balkan States to express their will toward peace on the occasion of the Ministerial Conference. Later in the evening today there will be a mini-football match between a Japanese team consisting of Japanese Diet members headed by Mr. Aisawa, Senior Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs and a European team consisting of foreign ministers, economic ministers, and also ambassadors of the Western Balkan countries. This will take place from 7:00 this evening at the National Stadium. The Goodwill Ambassador, Dragan Stojkovic, who is also the president of the Football Association of Serbia and Montenegro and former member of the Nagoya Grampus will also join.

   So much from me and I am happy to take your questions.

   Related Information (Opening Speech by Yoriko Kawaguchi, Minister for Foreign Affairs, at the Ministerial Conference on Peace Consolidation and Economic Development of the Western Balkans in Tokyo, April 5, 2004)
   Related Information (Speech by Goodwill Ambassador Mr. Dragan Stojkovic Ministerial Conference on Peace Consolidation and Economic Development of the Western Balkans)
   
4. Questions regarding the recent situation in Iraq

   Q. There is increasing tension in Iraq between the Shiite and the coalition forces in Iraq. How will this current situation influence the political process in Iraq? And also what kind of influence may this have on the SDF activities in Samawah?

   Mr. Okuyama. Our view of the situation in Iraq is that these are elements of unpredictability. And insuring security is one of the important issues there. The security threats are different from place to place inside Iraq, but we have witnessed that especially in the Sunnis triangle, there have been terrorist acts against coalition forces, Iraqi security forces and innocent civilians. At the same time, the US forces are engages in active operation against these attacks. And now we have witnessed more than 200,000 Iraqi security personnel have been engaged in ensuring security and generally speaking there is a reinforcement of Iraqi security personnel. The Government of Japan will maintain a close watch on the developments of the security situation in Iraq and will collect and analyze information. As for this increasing tension which we witness in Iraq currently we may say that there are various sentiments that are harbored by the individual Iraqi nationals against the coalition forces. However, at the same time, in a recent public poll which took place in Iraq, 75% of the Iraqis view that once the coalition forces, including the US forces, leave Iraq, the security situation in Iraq will deteriorate. By this we extrapolate that we cannot clearly say that there is a wide and deep anti-American feeling among the Iraqi people. And what we would like to see happen is that international cooperation over Iraq's reconstruction and security will be reinforced and for this purpose Japan would like to play its part while maintaining close contacts with the countries concerned. As for what is happening in Samawah, up until now we haven't witnessed unrest and also conflicts between the coalition forces and Iraqi police on the one hand, and the local people on the other. However, the government would like to continue to pay close attention to the situation in Samawah in general and will continue to collect and analyze information.

   Related Information (The Issue of Iraq)
   
5. Question regarding the situation in North Korea

   Q. Draft legislation to bar port entry of specific ships is submitted to the Diet. How will this affect the prospect of Japan North Korea consultations?

   Mr. Okuyama. It has been the constant position of the Government of Japan that we would like to resolve the issues relating to North Korea through the use of dialog and pressure. And we are trying to achieve an early resolution to the issues. North Korea referred to the draft legislation from time to time in their broadcast and we can see that they are paying a great deal of attention to the legislation. Basically we would like to find the most effective path to move the process forward. However, if the situation is worsened by the North Korean side, then we will need to take appropriate measures in close consultation with countries concerned in order to improve the situation and to solve the issues.

   Q. North Korean residents in Japan strongly criticize. the draft legislation as infringement on their rights today. How do you react to this?

   Mr. Okuyama. Basically the freedom of the movement of people and also the freedom of movement of ships need to be guaranteed, but in exceptional cases, which the Diet is now talking about, in special cases there may be a need to enforce restrictions on the freedom of movement. It is a sensitive balance that needs to be pursued between the adequate protection of human rights, including the freedom of movement, and at the same time, other concerns such as security. And so we would like to watch carefully how the Diet will deal with this issue. And that is as much as we can say from the viewpoint of the administration.

   Related Information (Japan-North Korea Relations)
   
6. Questions regarding the recent situation in Iraq

   Q. In your comments, are you saying that the Shias uprising now is a terrorist act?

   Mr. Okuyama. The first part of my remarks was an observation about the general tendency in the incidents in the area. What I said is that especially in the Sunnis triangle, we have been witnessing increasing acts of terrorism targeted not only at the coalition forces, but also at security forces of Iraq and also innocent civilians. I would rather refrain from characterizing the specific incident which took place in Najaf.

   Q. But you said that we witnessed now that American forces are involved in operations that involve operations against terrorist attacks. In the second part, is the answer clearly this and you consider the current confrontation in Shias is between American forces and terrorists?

   Mr. Okuyam. There are burglaries and various other incidents that are taking place. I cannot really generalize to the extent that I call all these activities against which the American forces are fighting along with the coalition partners are actually acts of terrorism.

   Q. Some people and mass media are of the view that those people have the right to protect their country.

   Mr. Okuyama. As I mentioned, I am not defining all acts, all attacks against American forces are attacks of terrorists because there are different kinds of activities against the American forces. And I would also rather refrain from calling what's happening and generalizing these unrests and demonstrations and activities from the Iraqi people as acts of resistance. What I would like to say is when we consider various attacks against coalition forces, from time to time we do not know who the perpetrators are.

   Related Information (The Issue of Iraq)