Top �� What's up around the Prime Minister �� April, 2002

Prime Minister Attends the Ceremony to Convey the Dag Hammarskjold Medal Monday, April 22, 2002 Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi attended the Ceremony to Convey the Dag Hammarskjold Medal held at the Prime Minister's Official Residence. The Dag Hammarskjold Medal was established by a Resolution of the United Nations Security Council in 1997 for the purpose of commemorating the deeds of United Nations personnel and others involved in peacekeeping activities who died while engaged in United Nations peacekeeping operations (PKO). The medal bears the name of Dag Hammarskjold, the second Secretary-General of the United Nations, who died in the line of duty while traveling on a peacekeeping operation in the Republic of Congo. The first Awards Ceremony for the Dag Hammarskjold Medal was held at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on March 14 to commemorate the deeds of United Nations personnel and others involved in PKO from 20 countries who died in line of duty, including four Japanese: Mr. Hiroshi Kubota, Mr. Nakata Atsuhito, Mr. Haruyuki Takada and Mr. Yutaka Akino. At the ceremony, the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations handed over medals to United Nations Ambassadors and other representatives of the countries concerned. Bereaved family members of Mr. Nakata Atsuhito and Mr. Haruyuki Takada attended the Conveying Ceremony and spoke with Prime Minister Koizumi after receiving the medals.