Press Conference by Prime Minister Ishiba regarding His Talk over the Telephone with Acting President and Prime Minister Han Duck-soo of the Republic of Korea and Other Matters

(On the passing of Mr. WATANABE Tsuneo, Representative Director and Editor-in-Chief of the Yomiuri Shimbun Holdings)

I consider Mr. Watanabe a great journalist. I had the pleasure of meeting him several times since I first took office as a member of the Diet. In particular, I learned a lot from him regarding World War II and various historical views of Japan.

Just this year, I reread the recently republished book that Mr. Watanabe wrote in the 1960s about factions within the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). I found it a thought-provoking book in many ways on such matters as what the LDP is, what factions are, and what they should be like going forward. There was a lot more I wanted to learn from him regarding, in the current context for Japanese politics, what political parties should be like, the ideal form of democracy, and the course Japan should take in the future as a peace-loving nation.

I was deeply saddened to hear of his passing.

(On Prime Minister Ishiba's talk over the telephone with Acting President and Prime Minister Han Duck-soo of the Republic of Korea)

In consideration of recent circumstances, I had a wide-ranging exchange of views regarding the current situation in the Republic of Korea (ROK) and other matters with Acting President Han Duck-soo, who has assumed office as acting president following the impeachment of the president.

Mr. Han stated that public peace and order has stabilized and that all possible efforts will be taken to ensure the safety of all Japanese nationals -- not limited to Japanese nationals, of course, but rather all foreign nationals, including Japanese nationals. He also said that he will also explain that to people affiliated with Japanese companies [in the ROK].

Acting President Han continued by saying that despite the current circumstances [regarding the impeachment of the president], the importance of Japan-ROK relations does not change in the slightest, and he intends to act in cooperation and strengthen relations with Japan across a wide range of fronts. Especially, in light of next year marking the 60th anniversary of the normalization of Japan-ROK relations and our intention to commemorate that milestone year, he said that he will work to make exchanges between our countries more active at every possible level.

Insofar as our countries find ourselves in a severe security environment because of the recent cooperative relationship between North Korea and Russia and other factors, we will work to maintain and further strengthen the frameworks for bilateral Japan-ROK and trilateral Japan-U.S.-ROK cooperation.

That is the overall outline of what we discussed.