Press Conference by the Chief Cabinet Secretary (Excerpt)

Opening Statement by Chief Cabinet Secretary Suga

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY SUGA:

(Abridged)

Q&As

• Interim storage facilities for contaminated soil

(Abridged)

REPORTER: This question concerns an issue carried over from the previous Government. Yesterday a meeting was held [in Fukushima Prefecture] by the Ministry of the Environment to explain to residents the preliminary investigation of candidate locations for an interim storage facility for contaminated soil. However, the residents expressed their strong dissatisfaction that there was no explanation concerning how much compensation will be received for land and also a lack of information regarding assurances that the lives of residents will be unaffected by the decision. How do you view this matter?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY SUGA: As some newspapers reported today, I am aware that explanations have been made regarding interim storage facilities for contaminated soil. I have also been informed that during the meeting, residents requested more details of the amount of compensation they will receive in addition to the building of storage facilities for contaminated soil. I personally believe that naturally we had a responsibility to explain all these things to the residents at the meeting. I believe that the omission was a result of vertically-segmented administrative structures within the Government and therefore in light of the criticisms from the residents, I would like to tell the Ministry of the Environment to learn from this and review their processes to prevent the reoccurrence of such incidents. I believe this is a practice the Government as a whole should adopt.