Press Conferences

Fujikawa, TV Asahi: Recently, there was a report that nine Japanese nationals are participating in the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). I understand you were indicating to verify that report, and what occurred following that?

State Minister for Foreign Affairs Yasuhide Nakayama: On the day in question, there was a remark from the Director of the Liberal Democratic Party’s National Defense Division at a joint meeting of the LDP’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Divisions. That is what I understand.

As I recall, what the Director said suggested that an Israeli vice-minister had been saying there was a possibility of nine Japanese nationals belonging to ISIL. The day happened to be a public holiday in Israel, but in the evening of that day, and there was a time difference also, I checked the report by directly telephoning the vice-minister who was the source of the comment that the Director was referring to.

The vice-minister denied making any such comment whatsoever. He said that assuming a mistake had occurred, it could have been because there was an interpreter involved and when he spoke to the Japanese side mistranslation might have occurred. The report I received from the vice-minister indicated that the he did not mentioned such a comment at all.

Suzuki, Mainichi Shimbun: In that case, am I correct in understanding that there are no Japanese nationals taking part? Was the issue included in the conversation?

State Minister Nakayama: There was no detailed exchange of that sort, such as whether or not Japanese nationals are taking part. Accordingly, at present we are monitoring the movements by ISIL carefully. That has not changed in any way.

Ichinose, Kyodo News: My question concerns Japan-Russia relations. There has been a movement toward holding a Japan-Russia summit meeting at the time of APEC meeting in November and I would like to ask your opinion on how Japan intends to maintain a balance between solving the Northern Territories issue and coordinating with the G7 on the Ukraine, and advance the relations.

State Minister Nakayama: Clearly there exist the territorial issues in the bilateral relations of Russia and Japan. The policy of the Abe administration remains unchanged from the policies of previous administrations: namely, continuing to request the return of these territories, and at the same aiming to conclude a peace treaty with Russia as soon as possible.

In terms of Ukraine, in actual terms it has become an international problem as you are all aware, and the policy of the Government of Japan with regards to this issue is also unchanged and it will continue to address it in coordination with the G7. Therefore, we will respond to bilateral issues between Japan and Russia as bilateral issues, and at the same time, we will respond to the situation in Ukraine keeping pace with the rest of the world. I think these two issues must be considered as separate.