Press Conference by the Chief Cabinet Secretary (Excerpt)

Q&As

• Japan-ROK relations (the Takeshima issue)

REPORTER: In relation to a visit to the Republic of Korea (ROK) by His Majesty the Emperor, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of the Republic of Korea today again made a comment to the effect that His Majesty the Emperor must apologize if there are things for which he should apologize. Today the Ministerial Meeting on the Territorial Issue of Takeshima was held, as was an unplanned press conference by the Chief Cabinet Secretary. In these ways the Japanese Government is delivering messages, yet an ROK Government representative still made these comments. How do you view these comments?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY FUJIMURA: The details of the comments made yesterday are now being confirmed. If he did in fact make these comments it is extremely regrettable, and of course I believe that this is something for which we would need to express our disapproval to the ROK Government.

REPORTER: I would like to ask a question regarding the note verbale that was confirmed at the ministerial meeting this morning. Has the note verbale since reached the ROK Government?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY FUJIMURA: I only just heard that this is currently being dealt with via diplomatic channels,  and it has not been reported to me as to whether or not the note verbale has been received by the ROK Government.

(Abridged)

REPORTER: My question pertains to the suit regarding Takeshima. Earlier the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of the Republic of Korea commented that taking the dispute to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) does not even deserve consideration. Now you are about to propose to jointly take the dispute to the ICJ, could you share with us how you view these comments?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY FUJIMURA: Currently we are in the process of confirming these comments; this happened during the diet session, did it not? At the moment we are still confirming the details of these comments. As the Japanese Government, it is our strong hope that the Republic of Korea, which aspires to be "Global Korea", will address the issue with sincerity as a member of the international community.

REPORTER: I would like to ask a question regarding the ministerial meeting of the Takeshima issue. After the illegal landing on the Senkaku Islands, a ministerial meeting was immediately held, however it was some time after the Takeshima issue came to the fore, before a similar ministerial meeting was held. What were the reasons for the delay, or the particular timing of the meeting?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY FUJIMURA: As we all know, the Takeshima and Senkaku Islands cases  are unrelated. In the case of Takeshima there is a territorial issue with the Republic of Korea, however in the case of the Senkaku Islands, there is no territorial issue. The case concerning the Senkaku Islands was an illegal landing, thus the nature of the two incidents were completely different.

REPORTER: Am I then right to understand that the delay was not due to the Government being cautious not to affect future-oriented relations between Japan and the Republic of Korea?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY FUJIMURA: I believe that you are correct, that was not the reason for the delay. However in the sense that we always like to view Japan-China and Japan-ROK relations from a broad perspective, we believe that at today's meeting we exchanged our thoughts and opinions on the Takeshima issue from such a wide range of perspectives.

REPORTER: With regard to the note verbale pertaining to Takeshima, are you still maintaining your intent to submit the note to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of the Republic of Korea today?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY FUJIMURA: Yes, we are. I have been informed that the Japanese Government is presently working to deliver the note via diplomatic routes before the end of today.

(Abridged)