Joint Press Conference by the G8 Foreign Ministers
June 27, 2008
Note: Sections of the following text are simultaneous interpretation, and as such may vary slightly from the phrasing used in the original language.
PRESS SECRETARY KAZUO KODAMA: We shall now begin the Joint Press Conference following the conclusion of the G8 Foreign Ministers' Meeting a while ago. At the outset, the Chair of the G8 Foreign Ministers' Meeting, this time, Foreign Minister Koumura, will deliver his opening remarks and we would then like to entertain questions from you, and we would like to conclude this Press Conference in about half an hour. We will appreciate your kind cooperation. Minister Koumura, please.
FOREIGN MINISTER MASAHIKO KOUMURA: Last evening and today, for two days, we had this G8 Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Kyoto, and with the cooperation of the foreign ministers of the participating countries we were able to engage in candid exchanges of views on major regional issues that the international community faces today. I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to my colleagues who have very actively participated in that discussion.
Allow me at this time to share with you the major discussions and outcome of that Meeting, as the Chair of the Meeting. First we discussed North Korea and Iran from the perspective of non-proliferation and had in-depth discussions. As for the DPRK, we agree that we need to vet or verify in full the declaration on nuclear programs that the DPRK submitted yesterday. Also, we all agree that it is important for us to continue to advance the Six-Party Talks process which is at a critical juncture, and that this process continues to work with tenacity to the ultimate goal of realizing denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. With regard to the abduction issue, I received an expression of strong support from my colleague foreign ministers to Japan's position, which is to continue to seek concrete action on the part of North Korea.
On Iran, we expressed our concern that Iran is continuing and expanding enrichment-related activities without complying with UN Security Council resolutions, and we therefore are of the same view that under the dual-track approach of dialogue and pressure, the international community needs to continue to press Iran for further cooperation with the international community.
From the perspective of peacebuilding, in order to provide support to the efforts of various countries around the world that are striving to move from the path of dispute to peace, we had very substantive discussion on Afghanistan, the Middle East Peace Process, and others. On Afghanistan, we have been able to come out with a Joint Statement which can rather be called the Future Comprehensive Strategy of the G8. In this we have included our stance that we shall engage in improved security and reconstruction as the tandem wheels on the part of the G8. With regard to support of the border area between Afghanistan and Pakistan, the hotbed of terrorism, we as the G8 were able to agree on establishing more than 150 projects and further step up our support. I believe this is an important outcome.
On the Middle East Peace Process, the members of the G8 agree that we shall provide our utmost support so that peace can be achieved between the Israelis and the Palestinians. Japan shall host the Ministerial-Level Meeting on the Corridor for Peace and Prosperity Initiative in Tokyo next week, and we shall also be engaged in other endeavors.
On Myanmar, we shall continue to ask for the Myanmar Government to cooperate with the international community more than ever, so that relief goods from the international community will be delivered properly to the cyclone victims. On the peace process, we would like to continue to press the Government of Myanmar so that the democratization process will be advanced with all the stakeholders, including Aung San Suu Kyi. At the same time, should the Government of Myanmar come up with positive moves, we express in our statement that we shall consider providing incentives.
On Zimbabwe we all shared serious concerns about the situation. In spite of the absence of proper conditions for elections due to organized violence, obstructions and intimidation by the Zimbabwe authorities, we are gravely concerned that the Government is still trying to go ahead today on the presidential run-off elections. We strongly seek the Government of Zimbabwe to fully cooperate with the international community, including the UN and the African Union, and that they reflect the will of the people of Zimbabwe and resolve the crisis immediately and in a peaceful manner. For further details please refer to the Chairman's Statement.
Now, the G8 are partners built on common values and sense of responsibility, and we all carry special responsibility for various challenges the international community faces. We were able to come up with a strong message on the various challenges that I just mentioned and were able to arrive at a concrete agreement on concrete actions. We would like to contribute the outcome of this Meeting to the G8 Hokkaido Toyako Summit that will be held next month.
Last but not the least, I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to the people of Kyoto for their very warm hospitality and the welcome extended to my colleagues, the G8 foreign ministers.
PRESS SECRETARY KAZUO KODAMA: Thank you Minister Koumura. Now, the floor is open to your questions. Those of you with questions, please raise your hand. Yes please, Mr. Yamaguchi.
QUESTION: My question is directed to Minister Koumura and Secretary Rice of the United States. The question concerns the DPRK. During the meeting today, I understand the importance of verification of nuclear plan declaration was agreed. Now, in the Six-Party Talks, how would the process of verification be carried out? I would like to invite the views of both Japan and the United States. In case the DPRK does not respond to the process in good faith, is there a possibility that the US administration would withdraw the notification about the delisting of the DPRK from the list of nations sponsoring terrorism? And about the abductions, the matter of greatest concern to Japan, how would the US and Japan cooperate and take specific measures to promote the process of the abduction issue?
US SECRETARY OF STATE CONDOLEEZZA RICE: What Minister Koumura said and what my colleagues at the table today all emphasized, which is the importance of the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, the full accounting for and ultimately dismantlement of all North Korean nuclear programs. We talked about the importance of verification of the declaration that has been submitted and verification throughout this entire process. I want to just emphasize that we are ending the second phase but there are many other steps still to be taken in order to achieve what we all wish to see, which is the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. There have been verification principles that the parties have been talking about. To give you an example, the North Koreans have already made available thousands of pages of documentation concerning the Yongbyon reactor and what was produced there, but we also need access to the reactor core, we need access to the waste pool so that we can indeed verify the number that we expect that the North Koreans have given us concerning how much plutonium has been made. That is just an example of the kind of verification that we expect.
We have serious questions about highly-enriched uranium programs in North Korea as well as proliferation activities, so there is a long road ahead. The president made the announcement yesterday that in fact he has notified the congress of our intention to de-list North Korea from the terrorism list and to remove the Trading With the Enemy Act sanctions list. I might note that the DPRK remains, from the point of view of the US, under multiple sanctions regimes, that is, Security Council Resolutions, human rights, proliferation and so there are very many sanctions still in place concerning North Korea. We know that North Korea has a record of not always living up to its obligations and so we are going to monitor very carefully in this 45-day period, but also well beyond that. The parties to the Six-Party Talks obviously have the capacity to bring about further consequences should North Korea not live up to its obligations. My colleagues reassured or assured the Japanese Government today of the concern that we all have for the abducted citizens of Japan and our determination to see that resolved in an early and positive way. The US in particular has been in very close contact with Japan and the US in particular has communicated to North Korea that the abduction issue is not just an issue for Japan; it is also an issue for the US, it is a serious human rights issue. The US will continue to monitor North Korea's seriousness about this matter and we will stay in very close contact with our Japanese colleagues. We expect this issue to be resolved positively because it is an issue that is of great concern to the US.
FOREIGN MINISTER MASAHIKO KOUMURA: As Secretary Rice mentioned just now, Japan and the US... the US has used the word "game." We are not engaged in a game of trusting or not trusting the DPRK. The game is how firmly we verify the declaration; that is the sort of expression used by the US and we agree with that. As Secretary Rice said, the record of plutonium production, the document has already been submitted so we will compare the declaration with that information. And that of course is not sufficient. There are numerous ways to verify, and the US and Japan and the other Six-Party members, of course excluding the DPRK, will work on firm and appropriate verification.
There still remain cards such as UN sanctions in the hands of the US, and also Japan still retains several cards, so we will use these effectively and shall strive to advance denuclearization and abduction issues as well as other pending issues between Japan and North Korea. But before anything else we need to maintain close coordination between Japan and the US, and we need to also keep our partnership with the other members of the Six-Party Talks, excluding the DPRK. In the meeting in Kyoto, we received very strong support from all the participants vis-à-vis Japan's policy in advancing both the denuclearization and abduction issue and I was most encouraged by that. So on both denuclearization and abduction and on other pending issues between Japan and the DPRK, we should like to do all our best to resolve these matters.
PRESS SECRETARY KAZUO KODAMA: Next question from the foreign press? The lady in the second row?
QUESTION: A question for Dr. Rice and Mr. Miliband about Zimbabwe: what is your reaction to the fact that the one-sided election has gone ahead today and what steps apart from sanctions do you see as possibly resolving the situation?
SECRETARY OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS DAVID MILIBAND: I think the first thing to say is that we had a very good discussion amongst all the ministers and none of us believe that the "election" today represents the sort of contest that can bring credit to any country. In my view, there is no legitimacy for a government claiming election on a basis of today's events because this was an election which was one-sided in every aspect. One-sided in the brutality of the regime, one-sided in the publicity given to one side, one-sided in the electoral organization, so it is very clear on the part of the UK that there is no legitimacy for the Government of Zimbabwe under Robert Mugabe. The only people with any shred of democratic legitimacy are those who won the March 29 first round.
The second very important point which I think is recognized by all the countries at this G8 Summit, the crisis in Zimbabwe, what Nelson Mandela has called "a tragic failure of leadership" in Zimbabwe is a problem for the whole of southern Africa, not just a problem for Zimbabwe, but it is notable because of the refugees. Therefore I think it is very significant that so many African leaders, from Mozambique, from Botswana, from Tanzania, from Zambia, should have spoken out so loudly and so clearly against the Mugabe regime. So the second point is that political support and the withdrawal of political support is very significant.
Thirdly, you are right that there are EU sanctions in respect of 132 people surrounding Mr. Mugabe. Those are travel and financial sanctions and the EU Council last Friday agreed to take those sanctions further and faster. The final point I would make is that the fact that this is now the subject of a UN Security Council Presidential Statement is very significant. A unanimous agreement from all the countries on the Security Council that the crisis in Zimbabwe is an international issue that deserves attention and the language of condemnation in the Presidential Statement is something that I think is very important in trying to take away the last shreds of legitimacy that exist for the Mugabe regime and we look forward to moving forward that debate at the UN.
US SECRETARY OF STATE CONDOLEEZZA RICE: Let me just underscore the point about legitimacy. The sham election that is going on apparently in Zimbabwe, as we speak, with the opposition largely if not in hiding, in protective custody of various people, with the opposition followers having been intimidated and beat up, this kind of sham could not possibly produce a legitimate outcome, and that is the view of the US. We discussed this in great detail at our meeting today. I might just note that the US will hold the Chair of the Presidency of the Security Council until July 1, and we will consult with the other members of the Security Council and other interested states, including African states that have spoken out about this, to see what next steps we might need to take in the Council.
PRESS SECRETARY KAZUO KODAMA: Next question from the Japanese press. Yes, the one at the front.
QUESTION: My question is addressed to Minister Koumura. Concerning the Japanese contribution to the Afghanistan reconstruction, the G8 agreed on comprehensive support to the border region in Afghanistan. Based on that, as a part of the Japanese contribution to the areas of conflict, what is your view about the possibility of dispatching the Self-Defense Forces (SDF) in the form of logistics support to ISAF in Afghanistan, and not just only in Afghanistan, but are there any requests from other participating countries about the dispatch of SDF to various areas?
FOREIGN MINISTER MASAHIKO KOUMURA: At the meeting this time, we did not receive any specific request for a dispatch of the SDF. For counter-terrorism, reconstruction and humanitarian assistance, we have taken these as tandem wheels for assistance to Afghanistan and also we have committed 2 billion US dollars for this and already 1.42 billion US dollars have been disbursed. We also have been providing refueling support in the Indian Ocean.
On top of that, we have been thinking about what we can really do if we are to send the SDF, we need new legislation. Because of a split parliament under which the House of Councillors is controlled by the opposition, would it be possible to pass new laws? Including that question and others, the government is considering various aspects concerned, so it is not that we have decided to send SDF nor have we decided not to send SDF; we are broadly studying what can be done.
PRESS SECRETARY KAZUO KODAMA: Next question. Question from the foreign press? Yes, in the second row.
QUESTION: I have two questions: one question to Ms. Rice. Just to be very clear about it as I haven't understood your answer quite correctly, is it true that the final decision has already been taken that North Korea is going to be taken from the list of nuclear terrorist states and isn't that a little premature decision seeing that you haven't had a chance to look at the documents North Korea sent yesterday? And the second question to Foreign Minister Steinmeier, about Afghanistan, as far as I know, in Germany, it is not that popular among the general population, that is the deployment in Afghanistan, and the G8 Statement promises further strengthening of deployment in Afghanistan. How do you reconcile that with the fact that opinions polls in Germany express dissatisfaction with the current situation?
US SECRETARY OF STATE CONDOLEEZZA RICE: The US had made a pledge decision that when the North Koreans submitted this declaration and when we could verify its accuracy we would in fact take the step of removing North Korea from the terrorism list. I might note that by the statute, North Korea meets those criteria simply by a reading of the statute. The way that this works, however, is that in fact there is a 45-day period before that becomes effective, and because we have already been doing some work at the technical expert-level concerning matters of verification, matters of verification principles, beginning work on a verification protocol, I am not saying there are difficulties that have yet emerged, but it is our intention to continue during this period to work. We expect North Korea to cooperate, we expect to be able to complete the essential verification protocol, we expect to know how we will be able to verify the accuracy and the completeness of the declaration and that is work that is still before us. So this is an important 45-day period but it is in the statute that the president notifies and then there is a 45-day period before it becomes effective.
FOREIGN MINISTER OF GERMANY FRANK-WALTER STEINMEIER: Can I react to the second question as follows. As German Foreign Minister, and I know I have the support of the whole German government on this, we are committed to further commitment in Afghanistan because that is necessary. Of course I appreciate that there is some skepticism among the German population. There has been discussion as there has been in many other countries which are deploying in Afghanistan, and we do have to do some convincing here which must start with reminding people why the international community is present in Afghanistan. I think there are two reasons which we need to remind people of.
Firstly this nation has been beleaguered for 30 years with a civil war and we have to help these people back onto their own feet, and, secondly, because this is about our own security. We must not forget that the reason for our presence there is terrorist fundamentalism which was also a threat to our Western world and that was the reason why we had to commit militarily in Afghanistan, the aim being that Afghanistan would never again be the focus of terrorist activity in the world.
We know that there is a need for reconstruction, but we also know that this reconstruction will have to rely at the moment on military presence because the situation in many areas of Afghanistan is still too insecure to dispense with that and because it is insecure, during the course of this year, we will be proposing to the German Bundestag, the parliament, that the number of German troops in Afghanistan be increased by 1,000; from 3,500 to 4,500. A proposal, which will be discussed in the public arena and which we will put to the German Parliament and will be subject to their approval -- but I am confident that we will get a broad consensus in favor of this in the German Bundestag.
Today, and I would like to say once again that I am particularly grateful to the Japanese chairmanship here, today we focused on the relationship between Afghanistan and Pakistan and I am really most grateful to Japan. There was an initiative taken here to try and intensify the contacts between those two countries. Our Japanese colleague mentioned to us today 160 proposals and projects, measures which are all designed to contribute to getting the two countries to talk to each other, and this goes from the provision of machines to scan documents at the borders to scholarships for students and so on, among those 160 projects.
PRESS SECRETARY KAZUO KODAMA: In the interest of time, we can entertain one last question from the Japanese press.
QUESTION: My question is directed to Secretary Rice. Concerning the DPRK, this deal between the US and the DPRK, the North Korea declaration and the US delisting of North Korea, now, this series of procedures, there are some cynical views in Japan. That is, the term of President Bush is coming to a close and the US is trying to make a diplomatic score in haste and this may be a deal in haste as the last part of the administration. How would you respond to this kind of cynical view? And in this connection, last time when you were in Japan, Secretary Rice, that was immediately after the New York Philharmonic performance in Pyongyang, and I asked the question if you had any plan of playing piano in Pyongyang and your answer was you wish to stay in Washington, D.C. for the time being. Do you have any plan to visit Pyongyang at the moment? If so, then what would be the timing of your visit or under what terms and conditions would you be making a visit to Pyongyang?
US SECRETARY OF STATE CONDOLEEZZA RICE: I have no plan to visit Pyongyang, nor to play the piano in Pyongyang. Let me underscore the deal in terms of the denuclearization declaration is a Six-Party Framework deal; it is not a deal between the US and North Korea. All of the obligations that are made are made to the six parties and all of the expectations are Six-Party expectations. There are within the six parties some elements that have a bilateral character, so for instance, the Japan-DPRK discussions have to take place concerning abductions between the DPRK and Japan, although I would think it would be fair to say that the US has been very active in encouraging, particularly the DPRK, to engage in those discussions and to do so seriously. The US has certain bilateral elements of its relationship that are also a part of the Six-Party deal and therefore the de-listing was a part of that.
As to the timing of this, we have been at this since September of 2005 with the DPRK. That is when the overall framework for denuclearization was signed in Beijing. The Six-Party Talks were actually begun before that and then you had the deal in September 2005. We had then, in February 2007, the first implementing deal concerning the first phase, that was the freezing or the shutdown of the reactor in several steps, then the steps to go forward for the disabling of the reactor and verification measures concerning the programs and the declaration. Now we will go to a third phase, so this has been going on a very long time and it is befitting the nature of this problem: the DPRK programs began decades ago, the nuclear programs. And we have been through a lot of ups and downs. We went through the 2006 period in which the DPRK tested missiles and then tested a nuclear device. And the advantage of the Six-Party Framework was then very evident. I was in Japan not long after that test; I was in the Republic of Korea not long after that test, and the five parties were able to come together almost immediately, propose a UN Security Council Resolution which was passed in record time when the DPRK conducted that nuclear test.
So all that I can say is that the president is the president until January 20, 2009, and we are going to continue to work urgently to resolve the problems in international politics, to try and contribute to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, and perhaps to get the DPRK out of the plutonium-making business is something we think is worth doing. But we have been at this for a very long time with our partners, with Japan, with the ROK, with Russia and with China, and what was very good today was the expression by other members of the G8 that they consider this not just a Six-Party problem, but in fact something that the entire international community must contribute to.
PRESS SECRETARY KAZUO KODAMA: Thank you very much. We have gone over time and we would like to bring this Joint Press Conference to a close. Thank you very much for your participation.
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