Summary of the Press Conference by
Foreign Minister Yukihiko Ikeda

(on the Incident at the Official Residence of the Japanese Ambassador
to the Republic of Peru)

18 December 1996
(unofficial Translation)

1. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I would now like to brief you on the status of the terrorist occupation of the Japanese Ambassador's residence in Peru. Various communications, including cables from abroad, are available. However, what we can accurately say now is that there are roughly ten terrorists holding approximately 200 hostages, according to the conversation that Prime Minister Hashimoto and President Fujimori had by telephone a short while ago. That is basically all we can say at the moment. However, at about 16:00 we did receive word from Japanese Embassy personnel who had been able to escape and approach the residence to see what was going on. According to their observation, all of the women and elderly involved had been released, and, at the time, no gunfire could be heard from around the residence. We also received a report that approximately 20 Peruvian Government and police vehicles, had been situated around the Ambassador's residence.
2. I would now like to explain the Foreign Ministry's immediate response to this situation. At 12:30, we established a task-force headquarters in our home offices in Tokyo, headed by the Vice-Foreign Minister Sadayuki Hayashi. This headquarters is currently the cornerstone of our information-gathering efforts. In fact, I have just come from the operations room where I consulted with task force personnel. We are determined to watch the situation very carefully, and I intend to make every effort to respond to events as they unfold.
3. Regarding local staffing in Peru, the Japanese Embassy in Lima has been operating with three officials and several local staff members. Six spouses of embassy personnel, including the wife of Ambassador Morihisa Aoki, were released from the residence and are now assisting with the efforts to resolve the situation. Furthermore, I am now dispatching to Peru, Deputy Director-General Takahiko Horimura of our Latin American and Caribbean Affairs Bureau. He will be departing Tokyo at 19:30 this evening. In addition, we are steadily drawing on personnel from nearby Japanese diplomatic missions. I am instructing our Sao Paulo Consul-General, Katsuyuki Tanaka, to depart for Lima to oversee the local operation there. However, it is the middle of the night in Peru at the moment, and it is unclear how soon he will be able to arrive. In order to get to Peru as soon as possible, he is scheduled to depart Sao Paulo on the earliest flight out on the morning of 18 December, local time. If things go as planned, he may be able to arrive on the scene in the early afternoon, local time. In addition, I have dispatched five Ministry personnel to Peru from our Embassies in Chile, Argentina, and the U.S. Two personnel from our Embassy in Chile will arrive first at about 09:30, or about 23:30, Japan time.
4. In closing, I know that the information currently available is incomplete, and in some cases confusing. However, we are deeply concerned about the situation, and will continue to communicate with the Government of Peru to do our utmost to resolve the situation peacefully, making the safety of the hostages our top priority. Thank you very much.