Press Conference by the Chief Cabinet Secretary (Excerpt)

JAPANESE

Opening Statement by Chief Cabinet Secretary Edano

(Abridged)

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: Now I will speak about the promulgation and bringing into force of the "act to establish nuclear damage compensation facilitation corporation." The "act to establish nuclear damage compensation facilitation corporation" which was passed by the Diet on August 3, was promulgated and brought into force today, August 10. Regarding this law, until now the Cabinet Secretariat has taken the leading role in creating bills, but the main role of the Cabinet Secretariat is "planning of basic policies". Thus, the regular and practical work of supervising these kinds of organizations is handled by the Cabinet Office in cooperation with the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. Consequently, the Prime Minister issued a letter of appointment to the effect that as of today Minister Goshi Hosono is ordered to be in charge of nuclear damage compensation facilitation corporation as the minister in charge of this matter in the Cabinet Office. Furthermore, as the department in the Cabinet Office in charge of this matter, today the Government established the "office in charge of nuclear damage compensation facilitation corporation" in the Cabinet Office. For the time being, we plan to move forward keeping in mind the need for continuity, for example by sharing the staff in the Cabinet Secretariat's Office for a Response to the Economic Impact caused by the Nuclear Power Plant Incident and the "TEPCO Operations and Finances Task Force Secretariat" with the new organization. Going forward, the Government intends to establish the organization quickly, and make every effort to ensure that the disaster victims can receive compensation quickly and appropriately.

Q&As

(Abridged)

REPORTER: I would like to talk about the matter of Kyushu Electric Power Co. Yesterday, the third-party panel set up by Kyushu Electric Power held a press conference and revealed that an executive in Kyushu Electric Power's nuclear power generation headquarters gave instructions to destroy some of the Kyushu Electric Power documents that should have been submitted to the third-party panel. Kyushu Electric Power is taking actions such as destroying evidence in this way while also saying that it will set up a third-party panel to carry out an objective investigation, and I would like to hear any views you may have about these actions of Kyushu Electric Power, which is a public utility, and its attitude as a corporation.

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: Above all, I want to express my great respect to the third-party panel for their careful investigation of those earlier developments. I strongly hope that the third-party panel will carefully reveal all of the relevant facts, including a detailed account of the concealing of evidence that they revealed yesterday.

(Abridged)

REPORTER: Yesterday, at the press conference after the Cabinet meeting, Minister Tatsuo Hirano indicated his intention to increase the issuance of reconstruction bonds by 2.5 trillion from the initial 10 trillion, but does the Prime Minister's Office also want to proceed in that direction?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: In yesterday's DPJ/LDP/Komeito three-party acknowledgement letter, there was confirmation of the emergency pension funding, and my understanding is that it has been decided that "it will be studied by each party." Also taking into account the status of these studies by each party, it is something that has been confirmed by the three parties, so the Government will also take future steps taking that into account.

(Abridged)

REPORTER: I would like to change the topic slightly. I think you will continue decontamination going forward regardless of the lifting of the emergency evacuation preparation zones, but does the Government intend to carefully stipulate the definition of that decontamination, or rather I should say the criteria, methods, etc., of the decontamination?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: I think this was also in yesterday's report by the Nuclear Emergency Response Headquarters, but by about the middle of August we will organize the guidelines, or perhaps I should say the ideas, of the national government regarding decontamination, then we will tell everyone involved in the decontamination that we would like them to proceed based on those criteria.

REPORTER: About the facilitation corporation, would you tell us about when it will be launched and the status of deliberations regarding the top personnel for the organization?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: I think the organization will be launched as soon as possible under Minister Hosono, who was ordered to be the head of the organization in today's letter of appointment.

REPORTER: This was discussed a little earlier, but I think that if the selection of a leader for the DPJ is held during this month, there is a danger that the schedule around that time will clash. Taking this into account, do you have any idea about approximately when the selection will take place?

(Abridged)

REPORTER: Regarding the timing of the establishment of the compensation facilitation corporation, can we understand this to mean that it will be established during August?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: My understanding is that this will be handled under the leadership of Minister Hosono as quickly as possible.

(Abridged)