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China-Japan-Koreas

Japan accepts IAEA nuclear checks

2007-07-24

Japan will work with United Nations inspectors to check the world’s biggest nuclear power plant after a powerful earthquake last week caused radiation leaks, but a fundamental shift in its nuclear energy policy is unlikely despite renewed fears about nuclear safety. Japan had told the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that it did not need help for now, but on Monday it said it would allow inspectors into the quake-hit Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant after it came under pressure from local authorities to do so. Japan’s nuclear industry - which supplies about one-third of the country’s electricity needs and is central to its efforts to battle global warming - has been tarnished by cover-ups of accidents and fudged safety records. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki said joint studies on nuclear safety would help other quake-prone countries as well as Japan. “It will be important for Japan and the IAEA to work together and to analyse the results carefully”, he told a news conference. “We will cooperate with the IAEA and will probably be making the inspections together.” An nuclear safety official said no date for the IAEA checks had been set, but the Nikkei business daily reported that four IAEA inspectors would visit site as soon as early August. Fears about the safety of Japan’s nuclear industry have been revived by leaks of water with low-level radiation from Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s (TEPCO) plant in the northwestern city of Kashiwazaki, hard hit by the 6.8 magnitude quake. The plant was shut down automatically in the quake and will remain closed indefinitely for safety checks, and the government has ordered other nuclear plant operators to make strict safety checks. Hiroki Shibata, a Standard & Poor’s analyst in charge of Japanese utilities firms, said a drastic policy change in Japan’s energy policy, such as abandoning nuclear power, was unlikely. “I don’t think that can be done easily, given the issue of environmental protection and amid high crude oil prices,” he said.

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Southeast Asia

Okinawa anger at textbook plans

2007-06-25

A Japan willing to defend itself is also a Japan in which some right wing nationalists will try to reassert themselves. The Japanese island of Okinawa has reacted furiously to government plans to revise textbook accounts of army activities during World War II. Okinawa politicians are protesting against a decision to tone down reports that the army ordered civilians to commit mass suicide at the war's end. Okinawa was the scene of one of the war's bloodiest battles. Some conservatives in Japan have in recent years questioned accounts of the country's brutal wartime past. Only this week, a group of MPs from the right-wing ruling party claimed China had exaggerated the number of people killed by Japanese troops in Nanjing in 1937. And Prime Minister Shinzo Abe drew condemnation abroad earlier this year after he questioned whether there was any proof that Japan's military coerced women to work as sex slaves during the war. Many Okinawa civilians, including entire families, committed suicide rather than surrender to US forces after the 1945 Battle of Okinawa that left more than 200,000 dead. Eyewitness accounts and historical research say government propaganda led civilians to believe they would face terrible atrocities if they were captured by US forces. Japanese troops were reported to have handed out grenades to residents and ordered them to kill themselves rather than surrender to US soldiers. The education ministry ordered publishers last March to make changes to several textbooks, which must then go before a government-appointed panel for approval. The Okinawa state assembly called on the government to "retract its instruction... so the truth of the Battle of Okinawa will be correctly conveyed and such a tragic war will never happen again". Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki was quoted by the Associated Press as saying the education ministry would take "appropriate measures" in line with process. "We understand this is an extremely important issue for the people of Okinawa," he said.

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China-Japan-Koreas

Cheney reassures Japan on North Korea

2007-02-21

TOKYO - US Vice President Dick Cheney reassured Japan on Wednesday that the breakthrough North Korea nuclear deal was a “good first step” after a worried Tokyo refused to fund the pact. Cheney opened talks here at the start of a Pacific visit to close US allies Japan and Australia meant to step up cooperation over North Korea and war-torn Iraq. Japan was one of six nations involved in marathon talks in Beijing last week that led to an agreement for North Korea to shut key nuclear facilities in exchange for badly needed fuel oil. But Japan has refused to provide energy aid to the nuclear-armed communist regime until it resolves an emotionally charged row over the past kidnappings of Japanese nationals. The vice president discussed the kidnappings among other issues in a breakfast meeting with Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki, said Cheney spokeswoman Lea Anne McBride. Cheney told the Japanese government’s number-two that the North Korea deal was “a good first step,” McBride said. “They agreed to work together to watch North Korea.” At Japan’s request, the vice president added a last-minute meeting Thursday with Sakie and Shigeru Yokota, the parents of the most famous abduction victim, Megumi Yokota. Megumi was a 13-year-old schoolgirl when she was bundled aboard a North Korean ship off Japan’s western coast in 1977. Pyongyang has admitted kidnapping her but says she is dead. Her case has triggered an outpouring of sympathy in Japan and growing international attention. Her mother met President George W. Bush at the White House last year. On the eve of his meeting with Cheney, Abe met the families of the abduction victims and vowed never to establish diplomatic ties with North Korea until the cases are settled.

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China-Japan-Koreas

Cheney to talk security on Japan visit

2007-02-19

U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney arrives in Tokyo on Tuesday for talks with the emperor, the prime minister and even U.S. troops aboard the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk. One person not on his list, however, is Japan's outspoken defense minister, who called the U.S. invasion of Iraq "a mistake." Cheney's brief visit — he arrives late Tuesday and departs early Thursday — is intended as a pat on the back for Japan, which has been one of Washington's most valuable allies in its global war on terror, sending troops to Iraq and deploying logistical help for the U.S. and coalition forces in Afghanistan. It will be a busy stay. Cheney is scheduled to meet with Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko, dine with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and talk with Foreign Minister Taro Aso. Not on the list is Defense Minister Fumio Kyuma, who recently said the U.S. decision to invade Iraq was based on dubious assumptions that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction and was thus "a mistake." The comment generated a flurry of retractions and clarifications from Japan's government, which has been a staunch supporter of Washington's war in Iraq and even sent hundreds of non-combat troops to the country to provide humanitarian assistance, such as rebuilding roads and schools and supplying fresh water to an area in Iraq's south. Kyuma later backtracked, claiming that his remark was misinterpreted but standing by his belief that Washington should have been more cautious. Officials said he was not being deliberately snubbed by Cheney. "This visit will be a very short one with a tight schedule," chief Cabinet spokesman Yasuhisa Shiozaki said Monday. "I don't think the meeting was canceled, it was originally not possible within the tight schedule." Security issues, however, are likely to dominate Cheney's talks here. Japan and the United States are seeking to maintain a closely coordinated stance on North Korea, which recently agreed in multilateral talks to allow inspections and shut down a nuclear reactor in exchange for energy aid and other incentives. The talks — involving Japan, the U.S., Russia, China and the two Koreas — are aimed at getting the North to abandon its nuclear weapons program altogether. Japan will also be pitching its plea for pressure on the North to provide more information on the fate of more than a dozen Japanese who were abducted in the 1970s and '80s. Japan believes some may still be alive, and that more may have been kidnapped by the North than the 12 or so it has admitted taking. Cheney and Japanese leaders are also expected to discuss a wide-ranging realignment of U.S. troops in Japan. About 50,000 troops are stationed throughout the country under a mutual security pact that dates back to the 1960s, but Tokyo and Washington have been reworking that alliance to make the presence more effective and "interoperative," meaning that the two forces are likely to work closer together in the years to come, with Japan taking on a more significant role in its own defense and in international peacekeeping operations. Cheney is also scheduled to visit Australia and the tiny U.S. island of Guam.

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China-Japan-Koreas

China confirms satellite missile test

2007-01-23

China said on Tuesday it had shot down one of its own satellites, confirming U.S. reports, but denied it was threatening an arms race in space. A Foreign Ministry spokesman said he knew of no plans for a second test. Spokesman Liu Jianchao said his government had briefed the United States, Japan and other countries some time after the test. He said they had voiced worries about dangerous space debris and escalating military rivalry in space, but said such fears were groundless. "This test was not directed at any country and does not constitute a threat to any country," he told a crowded regular news briefing. "What needs to be stressed is that China has always advocated the peaceful use of space, opposes the weaponisation of space and arms races in space." Liu said he had not "heard of plans for a second test". This was the first time that Beijing had publicly confirmed the satellite strike, revealed by U.S. officials last week. The belated response appeared unlikely to silence complaints from other capitals that Beijing had eroded security in outer space, and its own claims to be an entirely peaceful power, by pulverizing the aging weather satellite on January 11. Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki said on Tuesday China should be more open over its plans for outer space. "Unless there is transparency, there will be suspicions. It's not enough for China to just say there was one test," he told a news conference in Tokyo. The United States staged the most recent previous missile strike against a satellite in September 1985. No international treaty bans such strikes, but experts say the floating debris they cause endangers other satellites vital to commerce and security. Beijing fears the Bush administration's plans to bolster U.S. dominance in space security could undermine its own security, analysts say. Analysts say China could use its ability to down satellites to counter any spy satellite support Washington might offer Taiwan if war were to break out between the self-ruled island and the mainland. A Taiwan official in charge of China policy said on Tuesday that the satellite test flouted international norms and showed Beijing's space ambitions were not benign. "It demonstrated that China has been trying to militarise the use of space and clearly it is against the international interest, not just the interest of Taiwan," Joseph Wu, chairman of Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council, said in a speech in Tokyo. On Monday, a State Department spokesman said Chinese officials had acknowledged the test when they met Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill in Beijing over the weekend. Asked about China's delay in reporting the test, Liu said: "China has nothing to hide. After various parties expressed concern, we explained this test in outer space to them." Facing volleys of queries from reporters, Liu said he could not immediately answer questions about the dangers posed by the thousands of metal fragments released into orbit. A senior adviser to the Pentagon's National Security Space Office, Peter Hays, told Reuters on Monday that the satellite scrap could even harm the International Space Station. "This is a highly technical question, I can't give you an accurate answer," Liu said of the satellite fragments.

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China-Japan-Koreas

Japan Weighs Nuclear Development

2006-12-25

Merry Christmas, China. TOKYO (AP) - The Japanese government recently looked into the possibility of developing a nuclear warhead, a news report said Monday, citing an internal government document. However the government's top spokesman Yasuhisa Shiozaki denied such a document existed. "No, no, certainly not!" The Japanese daily Sankei reported that experts at several government organizations concluded it would take at least three to five years to make a prototype weapon. That's just smoke. The Japanese have the knowledge and the plutonium, and I bet they also have a blueprint. The experts also estimated that the project would cost about $1.68 billion to $2.52 billion and require the efforts of several hundred engineers, according to Sankei. Money and engineers are things Japan has in plenty. The experts did not say whether Japan should develop nuclear arms, the newspaper reported, only what such a project would require. The newspaper published a summary of the document, dated Sept 20 and titled ``On the Possibility of Developing Nuclear Weapons Domestically.''

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China-Japan-Koreas

Japan says to keep sanctions on N. Korea

2006-11-01

TOKYO - Japan will maintain its sanctions on North Korea despite Pyongyang’s agreement to return to stalled six-party talks on the reclusive communist state’s nuclear programme, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki said on Wednesday. Shiozaki, the government’s top spokesman, said North Korea must first commit itself to abandoning its nuclear programmes, as promised in a joint statement issued after a September 2005 round of the six-party talks. ‘The most important thing is for North Korea to completely abandon nuclear development in accordance with the joint statement from September of last year,’ Shiozaki told a news conference. ‘Until we know that they will keep that promise, we will just carry on with what we’ve decided to do,’ he said, referring to Japan’s sanctions implemented following Pyongyang’s Oct. 9 nuclear test. The Japanese punitive measures include a ban on imports and a prohibition on North Korean ships entering its ports. Earlier, Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso was quoted as saying that it was too early to celebrate. ‘It is truly welcome that the talks are set to be resumed soon, but we cannot just celebrate and say ‘That’s great’,’ Kyodo news agency quoted Aso as telling parliament.

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China-Japan-Koreas

Japan bans NKor ships, imports and citizens

2006-10-12

Kyodo News: Japan will impose its harshest economic sanctions yet on Pyongyang over the nuclear test it conducted Monday, including total bans on the entry of North Korean ships, imports and citizens. The Cabinet agreed on the sanctions in an afternoon meeting to discuss the declared nuclear test and were formalized by the government's top security panel later in the day. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki told a news conference after the security panel meeting that North Korea's "insincere responses" to the abduction issue were among the many reasons for the decision to impose the bans. Shiozaki was referring to the unresolved issue regarding the North's past abductions of Japanese. “Wednesday's steps include a total ban on North Korean ships' entering Japanese ports, a ban on all imports from North Korea and the barring of all North Korean nationals from entering Japan...” Wednesday's steps include a total ban on North Korean ships' entering Japanese ports, a ban on all imports from North Korea and the barring of all North Korean nationals from entering Japan, with some very slight exceptions. Japan first imposed economic sanctions following North Korea's seven missile tests on July 5, including a ban on the North Korean ferry Mangyongbong-92, which plies between Wonsan and Niigata ports. In September, Tokyo also banned financial institutions from processing overseas remittances to 15 organizations and one individual with suspected links to Pyongyang's weapons program. Early Wednesday, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called for tough sanctions after Tokyo became jittery over what appeared to be a false report that the communist state the same day had tested a second atom bomb. "We have to take considerable measures against their announcement," Abe told the House of Councilors. "I presume (Pyongyang) also expect them to be considerable as the sanctions will be imposed by my government."

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China-Japan-Koreas

North Korea 'could' fire nuclear missile

2006-10-10

Oooh. A threat. Uh, Kimmie, will this one fall into the Sea of Japan, too? We're taking bets on whether it last longer than 42 seconds. Any inside dope for the 'Burgers? A North Korean official has warned the communist nation could fire a nuclear-tipped missile unless the US acts to resolve its standoff with Pyongyang, a South Korean news agency has reported. "We hope the situation will be resolved before an unfortunate incident of us firing a nuclear missile comes," the unnamed official said, according to a Yonhap report from Beijing. "That depends on how the US will act." The warning came as Japan said North Korea could face military sanctions as a response to the nation's claimed nuclear test, but said it will not build its own nuclear arsenal. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said his country had no plans to contravene its pacifist constitution and build up a nuclear arsenal in response to Pyongyang's reported atomic test. "We have no intention of changing our policy that possessing nuclear weapons is not our option," Mr Abe told parliament today. "There will be no change in our non-nuclear arms principles." Japan's constitution bars the use of force to settle international disputes, and Japan has maintained a policy of not producing, possessing or using nuclear weapons. Meanwhile, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki suggested military sanctions would be among the options considered at the United Nations, but he refused to provide any details of what the sanctions would involve. "We will discuss sanctions at the UN Security Council," he said. "We are considering all possibilities. What kind of resolution it will be will be based on the results of the discussion at the Security Council. It is difficult to predict at this point." Japan's Finance Minister Koji Omi said Tokyo would consider imposing more financial sanctions on North Korea to protest its reported nuclear test yesterday. "We cannot condone North Korea's nuclear explosion test. We will consider stepping up our financial sanctions against the country, in tandem with other countries," Mr Omi told reporters. Following North Korea's test announcement, Iran today said it was "hostile" towards the development of nuclear weapons but said the big powers have to start disarmament. "The Islamic Republic is hostile to the production and utilisation of nuclear weapons and to destruction," said government spokesman Gholam Hossein Elham. "The best solution to combat nuclear weapons is for the big powers to start by destroying them themselves," he was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency. He pledged Tehran's help if the world's nuclear powers were serious in achieving this goal. The five UN Security Council permanent members, Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States, plus Germany, are expected to begin discussing this week a resolution imposing sanctions on Tehran if it does not halt its own nuclear program. Tehran insists its nuclear program is solely for peaceful energy needs, vehemently rejecting allegations that it is seeking nuclear weapons. "Iran's position is clear and Iran on principle believes in a world free of nuclear weapons," foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini was quoted as saying by a state television anchor.

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China-Japan-Koreas

Abe wants tough UN sanctions on NKors

2006-10-10

TOKYO - Japan said on Tuesday it would push for the UN Security Council to swiftly impose tough sanctions on North Korea in response to the communist state’s declared nuclear test. Tokyo renewed its backing for a US call to invoke Chapter VII of the UN charter, which provides for mandatory sanctions or, as a last resort, military action, in response to threats to international peace and security. ‘Japan is demanding a UN resolution that refers to Chapter VII,’ said Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki, the government spokesman. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, in his first cabinet meeting since returning from a trip to China and South Korea, said Japan was determined to take a tough line against North Korea. ‘North Korea’s latest announcement is a serious challenge against Japan’s security. And it also is a grave threat against the peace and security of East Asia and the international community,’ Abe told cabinet members, as quoted by Shiozaki. ‘Japan strongly protests against North Korea and condemns its move, while seeking a rapid response at the UN Security Council in cooperation with other countries,’ Abe said. Shinzo needs to learn that you don't use 'rapid' and 'UN' in the same sentence. Shiozaki signalled that Japan was waiting for confirmation of North Korea’s nuclear test before imposing fresh bilateral sanctions. ‘Japan will decide on its own measures by exchanging information with other countries,’ he said. Shiozaki said he could not confirm a report by South Korea’s Yonhap news agency that intelligence officials in Seoul believed Pyongyang may conduct another test. Japan is ‘strengthening its efforts to gather and analyze related information,’ Shiozaki said, adding that he had not heard information from Seoul on another test.

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China-Japan-Koreas

Japan, US to step up missile defence

2006-10-09

JAPAN and the US will step up work on their missile defence system after North Korea said it tested an atom bomb, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said today. "To maintain the safety of the Japanese country and people and to increase the relationship of trust based on the Japan-US alliance, Japan will step up co-operation with the United States, such as on Japan-US missile defence," Mr Abe said. Japan and the US started working in earnest on a missile shield after North Korea in 1998 fired a missile over Japan's main island. The US stationed its first surface-to-air Patriot missiles in Japan after North Korea in July test-fired seven missiles in Japan's direction. Washington protects Japan by treaty as the country was stripped of its right to maintain an armed forces after defeat in World War II. US Ambassador to Japan Thomas Schieffer said Washington was ready to defend Japan, in a meeting with Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki and Foreign Minister Taro Aso. "I assured both the chief cabinet secretary and the foreign minister that the United States is prepared to honour its commitments to its allies in Japan as well as Korea," Mr Schieffer said. Mr Shiozaki said the two countries also agreed to "stay in line with each other at the United Nations." "Ambassador Schieffer told us that the United States will carry out its responsibilities and commitments in line with the Japan-US alliance and security treaty," Mr Shiozaki said.

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China-Japan-Koreas

New Japanese PM focuses on South Korea

2006-10-03

New Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is moving quickly to mend Japan's tattered relations with its Asian neighbors, preparing to travel to China and South Korea as early as this weekend — less than two weeks after he assumed the nation's highest office. The hastily arranged trip would mark a major gesture of rapprochement, but Abe may be hard-pressed to convince his counterparts in Beijing and Seoul, angry over visits by his predecessor to a Tokyo war shrine, that he has any significant policy changes up his sleeve. Making good on a vow immediately after his election by parliament last week to put mending the rift atop his political agenda, Abe said Monday he hopes to meet with leaders in Beijing in Seoul to discuss ways to improve ties that have taken a battering over the past year. Chief government spokesman Yasuhisa Shiozaki confirmed a summit with both countries was being discussed, but said the exact dates of the trip were not yet finalized. He confirmed that the trip could be made in one fell swoop, but refused to provide further details. Japanese media reports said Abe was expected to meet with Chinese President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao on Oct. 8 and South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun on Oct. 9. Both countries had declined summits with Japan in protest of former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's repeated visits to the ultra-conservative Yasukuni Shrine, where Japan's fallen soldiers, including a handful of World War II war criminals, are worshipped.

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