Press Conferences

Mr. Fumio Kishida, Minister for Foreign Affairs: At today’s Cabinet meeting a Cabinet decision was made on a bill on contribution to the Green Climate Fund (GCF) and measures accompanying that.

In November last year Prime Minister Abe announced that Japan will contribute up to 1.5 billion U.S. dollars to the GCF, conditional on the Diet’s approval.

The GCF is regarded as a fund for providing assistance for developing countries in international negotiations on climate change, and assumes an extremely important role when promoting climate change negotiations.

This year is an important year when a new post-2020 framework on climate change will be decided. Japan intends to perform a leadership role in climate change negotiations by having this bill approved in the current Diet session and realizing the contribution promptly.

Arita, Nippon TV: Today, it is one month since the video announcing the murder of the hostages was uploaded on January 20. What are your views on this extremely regrettable outcome, including the response made over that period?

Also, I think a review team was set up in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but what stage is that review at currently, and could you also say if there have been any new response measures of any kind?

Minister Kishida: As you said, one month has passed since the images of the two people were released on January 20. I feel profound grief that this was the outcome even though the Government did its upmost for their release. Following this incident, on February 17, I announced three pillars of Japan’s basic policy regarding terrorism, namely, providing counter-terrorism capacity building assistance, enhancing humanitarian assistance toward stability in the Middle East, and thirdly, providing support for creating moderate societies resilient to radicalization. Those are the three pillars I announced, and State Minister for Foreign Affairs Nakayama also announced this policy at a ministerial conference held in the U.S. on February 19.

Regarding the review team on the safety of Japanese nationals that you mentioned, it was set up on February 3, and on February 6 it promptly announced measures that should be taken. The measures include beginning the simultaneous transmission of information via a short mail system, as well as strengthening security at schools for Japanese. Those were some of the things it announced, and we intend to implement them immediately. The direction of our work going forward is to continue discussions by the team and to implement specific measures as they become implementable.

Arita, Nippon TV: My question concerns the Japan-North Korea consultations. Are there any talks currently taking place with the North Korean side, for example, on the schedule for the next consultations or on it submitting some sort of notification or report?

Minister Kishida: Between Japan and North Korea, we are continuing to strongly urge the North Korean side to submit an honest report by the Special Investigation Committee at the earliest stage. We are working on North Korea via the embassy route and other means. I believe that we will continue to make our efforts to have a positive, forward-looking response from the North Korean side, and we should continue to urge North Korea using various international frameworks, such as the Japan-U.S.-ROK Talks or the Six-Party Talks.

Kurihara, NHK: Regarding the so-called wartime comfort women issue, the book Comfort Women in the Empire, which calls on both Japan and the ROK to calmly discuss this issue based on the facts from both sides, has been released in the ROK. This book calls on the Japanese side to engage in constructive discussions. How do you evaluate such a voice from within the ROK?

Minister Kishida: I am aware of the developments you referred to. But we should refrain from commenting on individual books. However, I believe that Japan should be evaluated firmly based on facts. On the comfort women issue as well, up to the present time, Japan has implemented a number of engagements. I expect that these engagements are firmly evaluated, and Japan will continue to make tenacious discussions. Regarding Japan-ROK relations, Japan considers the ROK to be its most important neighboring country and moreover this year marks the 50th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations between Japan and the ROK. I believe that we should make efforts to advance future-orientated, friendly relations with the ROK from a broad perspective.

Nakagawa, Yomiuri Shimbun: February 22 is Takeshima Day. This will be the third year that the Parliamentary Vice-Minister will be dispatched to attend the ceremony, but I imagine the standpoint of Japan is that this must not and should not impact on Japan’s important relations with the ROK. To a certain extent a hostile response from the ROK is expected, so can I ask what you think about this situation in the context of the 50th anniversary?

Minister Kishida: As I just stated, Japan considers the ROK to be its most important neighbor. With regards to the matter you referred to, Japan has absolutely no intention of worsening relations with the ROK. Following an examination of all of the various circumstances, Japan comprehensively decided that it should have the Parliamentary Vice-Minister attend the Takeshima Day ceremony, a decision that follows last year’s case. I think that the Government of Japan naturally has an obligation to communicate its position on Takeshima.

Muramatsu, Asahi Shimbun: I would like to ask about the author Ayako Sono’s newspaper column. Regarding the column, the Embassy of South Africa has made a protest that it is of racial discriminatory. Is the Ministry of Foreign Affairs investigating a response to this, such as providing the Embassy with some sort of explanation?

Minister Kishida: Regarding the point you mentioned, I wish to confirm the details on this matter once again. After that, I will decide on whether I will make a comment or not.

Fujimura, Chugoku Shimbun: I would like to ask about the document on the banning of nuclear weapons that Austria is seeking approval for. People from various parts of the world are calling on nations to agree to it. Can I ask for your opinion on this?

Minister Kishida: This year, the Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT Review Conference), which is convened once every 5 years, will be held. To the conference, various countries are making a range of initiatives to make the conference a success. My understanding is that the Austria document you referred to is one such initiative.

Japan is continuing its efforts to contribute to the NPT Review Conference through the NPDI framework. I believe that we should continue to cooperate with countries including Austria to ensure that, through those initiatives by various countries, the NPT Review Conference will be a success.