Press Conference by the Chief Cabinet Secretary (Excerpt)

Q&As

(Abridged)

REPORTER:This question is with regard to the issue of an enormous amount of money being paid to a financial adviser on the occasion of Olympus' purchase of an English medical equipment manufacturer. It seems that several members of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) have voiced that the Financial Services Agency (FSA) should look into the matter, as such a flow of funds is unusual and not transparent. How does the Government intend to investigate this problem - or, this flow of funds?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY FUJIMURA:I am aware that there are those in the party with such an opinion. The Minister of State for Financial Services is in charge of issues such as this, and according to his response, he is aware of the news. However, he said that he would not provide a response because it concerns an individual matter. That was his answer, and we went on to say that it is his understanding that, in general terms, this is an issue that is mainly governed by the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act, and in the event that there is suspicion that something is in violation of this Act, investigations are carried out as necessary. His answer is the answer of the Government.

REPORTER:The DPJ's research committee on integrated reform of the social security and tax systems is to begin discussions today. In working towards concluding discussions on the taxation and social security systems by the end of the year, what relationship will the party's discussion and the Government's discussion take moving forward? It is my understanding that in the case of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) the Government will watch over the party's discussion.

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY FUJIMURA:Yesterday, the party's project team (PT) held a meeting with Chairperson Hosokawa, myself, Minister Motohisa Furukawa, and Minister Yoko Komiyama. There, we decided that we would steadily advance discussion in accordance with the agreement made between related ministers in August (on an initial work schedule) based on the final draft adopted in June of this year. Moreover, the decision was made to initially advance discussion while concentrating on social security reform. It was also decided that the basic concept of these discussions would be to present a concrete image for enhancing the functions of social security to national citizens that is easy to understand while also working to secure sustainability for social security. Finally, we decided that internal Government staff would advance work in concert with the ruling parties. So, the conclusion of yesterday's meeting was that work would be advanced in a collaborative, concerted manner.

(Abridged)

REPORTER:This question concerns the issue of cyber attacks, which was also discussed in this morning's press conference. As you have said, it appears that there are many cases where Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the House of Representatives have become victims to cyber attacks that use targeted emails. How does the Government currently view the correlation between these incidents, and the situation at hand? Also, in terms of crisis management, do you view this incident as an act of terrorism?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY FUJIMURA:There was some discussion on this in the committee meeting today. First, the House of Representatives has established a task force. Also, staff have been dispatched from the National Information Security Center and the police, and they are now cooperating on this matter. As such, I believe that an investigation on the matter will be starting soon. Moreover, put broadly, it is how we think about cyber attacks - what I said during the committee meeting was that we have to think about this by first separating things. There are the various fake emails that are sent using ordinary computers, there is the level when one is infected with a Trojan horse, there is the question of whether such an incident occurs within the government or a company on a practical level, and even the question of whether the information in question was confidential and related to foreign affairs or defense. Using the categorical term "cyber attack" puts all of the situations into a single grouping. I believe that work will be carried out to carefully consider and separate these into different levels.

(Abridged)