(Provisional Translation) Opening Statement by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi at the Press Conference in New York September 13, 2002

My visit to the United States this time started in Boston. Today is the last day, here in New York, and I shall be leaving for Japan this evening. In Boston, I had the pleasure of enjoying interlocution with professors of Harvard University as well as young university students. Also, I was able to enjoy, for the very first time in my life, an American football match, in the presence of former President Bush. I moved from Boston to New York, and I delivered a speech on Japan-US relations at the Council of Foreign Relations. Today I expressed Japan's stance in the address to the United Nations General Assembly. This time, I was able to meet with President Bush as well as the leaders of several other countries. It has been a year since the terror attacks on the United States. I attended the ceremony, the first anniversary ceremony of the terrorist attacks, and I renewed my sense that terror attacks are indeed dastardly attacks. I also realised once again the enormity of damage caused by terror attacks and I felt the deep sorrow of the bereaved families of the terror victims. I renewed my determination that we should never allow such terror attacks to reoccur. I also felt that our fight against terror has not ended: Terrorists could strike us anywhere in the world today, so through cooperation with countries around the world, we should carry on our fight against terrorism. I listed to the speeches of various leaders at the UN General Assembly this time, and I also had a summit meeting with President Bush of the United States. I discussed the Iraqi issue, the North Korean issue, and I exchanged views about my upcoming meeting with General Secretary Kim Jong-Il of North Korea. And many leaders around the world are paying a lot of attention at this moment to the US response to Iraq. On that very score, Iraq, in the first instance, needs to observe the numerous UN resolutions that have been passed in the past. So it is important that the Iraqis live up to those resolutions. At the same time, in case the United States does act in its response to Iraq, the most important point is international cooperation, international coordination. This is a point that I stressed in my tete-a-tete meeting with President Bush. President Bush told me, and I felt it, that he was fully aware of the importance of international cooperation in this regard. I shall be making my very first visit to North Korea in order to make a breakthrough in the process of establishing better relations between Japan and North Korea. I explained this to President Bush, and he expressed his very encouraging support for my planned visit to North Korea. As far as I am concerned, I believe it is important to right this relationship between Japan and North Korea, a relationship that has lacked normalcy. With this determination to right that abnormal relationship, I shall be meeting with General Secretary Kim Jong-Il. And, of course, in the course of that meeting I shall raise the issue of abductions and also the matter of weapons of mass destruction development, a concern for the United States, as well as the suspected nuclear weapons development program. The Japan-North Korea question needs to be addressed under close cooperation amongst our three countries: Japan, the United States, and the Republic of Korea. This is a point that I have stressed from time to time. And on my visit to North Korea next week, and also in our future response to North Korea, our three countries, Japan, the United States, and the Republic of Korea, will need to maintain such close cooperation. President Putin of the Russian Federation, as well as the Chinese leader, has also expressed strong support for my upcoming visit to North Korea. I believe that my visit to North Korea and Japan-North Korea relations have implications not just for our two countries but for peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula, and for our region of the world, as well as for the international community. At the moment, I feel that without such direct interlocution amongst leaders there will be no further progress in the current state of relations between Japan and North Korea. In addressing Japan-North Korea relations there are numerous pending issues of the past, present, and future, and I suggested that we take up all these issues together, because Japan is addressing this question of our bilateral relations with sincerity. And I have always said that we would hope that the North Koreans also address our bilateral relations with all sincerity. On 30 August, I announced that I would visit North Korea on 17 September. I shall make a day trip to North Korea to meet with General Secretary Kim Jong-Il. Many people think that this was a bolt of lightening out of the blue. The fact of the matter is that since about a year ago our working-level people on both sides have, under the surface, had repeated contact from time to time. I have always received contact reports on those meetings and I sensed that the North Koreans have this will to address our bilateral relations with good faith, with sincerity. That is why I decided to visit North Korea. It is indeed very unusual in terms of diplomatic negotiations for the leaders of the two countries to meet without having any clear-cut idea as to what sort of results can be produced. Many people suggested that this would be very risky. Indeed, that may be the case; but rather than looking at the risk, I believe it is important that we take this as an opportunity that will enable us to lead our talks toward the normalization of our bilateral relations. Of course, there are numerous things that remain very unclear. We have never met with General Secretary Kim Jong-Il. Fifty years since the end of the Second World War, Japanese leaders have never met the top leaders of North Korea. That is indeed abnormal. With my upcoming visit, I hope to advance our relations a step or two toward normalization and find out the clues for restarting our talks for the normalisation of our diplomatic ties. Now in the international community, Japan is--well, I felt that various countries around the world are looking to Japan to play its appropriate part in the international community on the Afghanistan question. In my meeting with President Karzai, I stated that Japan shall do its best in cooperating for Afghanistan's nation-building. President Bush, President Karzai, and Prince Saud, Foreign Minister of Saudi Arabia, we together will cooperate in building trunk roads in Afghanistan. I was able to express that support for Afghanistan in my meeting with President Karzai. In my address to the United Nations General Assembly this time, I stressed the importance of the roles of the United Nations in the interests of world peace and prosperity and appealed for further cooperation by all member countries. I explained Japan's position on various challenges facing the world: the fight against terrorism, consolidation of peace and nation-building, the environment and development, nuclear disarmament, and so on. I also explained the importance of the need for UN reform and expressed Japan's determination to continue to do its utmost. So my visit to the United States this time coincided with the first anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the United States. I was able to exchange view with various leaders from around the world and in the run-up to my visit to North Korea, I was able to receive appropriate advice from various leaders in my one-on-one meetings, and also I felt very strongly that Japan indeed has an important role to play. This has been a very meaningful visit, and I am most grateful for the kind cooperation of all people concerned and for the very generous treatment I have been accorded. Thank you.