Press Conference by the Chief Cabinet Secretary (Excerpt)

Q&As

• The release of testimonies on the Accident at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Station
• A courtesy call by the Ambassador of the ROK

(Abridged)

REPORTER: I have a question about the release of testimonies collected by the Government's Investigation Committee on the Accident at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Stations. The Chief Cabinet Secretary at the time, Mr. Yukio Edano, has said about his own testimony that many more sections were blacked out than he had requested. Mr. Edano has said that he worked with the Government and requested three sections be kept undisclosed, but he pointed out that more than 10 times the number of sections have been blacked out. Is this the truth?  
 
CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY SUGA: I have received a report that this is absolutely not the case. Actually, for the release of this testimony, in addition to those sections requested by Mr. Edano, the Government decided not to disclose certain parts that contain personal information, are related to the rights or interests of third parties, or pertain to national security, in line with the Act on Access to Information Held by Administrative Organs. I have received a report that working level staff consulted Mr. Edano beforehand and received consent from Mr. Edano personally to not disclose certain parts. Furthermore, the sections that were blacked out were mainly related to matters such as national security, classified information and diplomacy, and given that we also received prior consent from Mr. Edano, I do not believe your assertions are valid.

REPORTER: I believe you met with the Ambassador of the Republic of Korea (ROK) to Japan Yoo Heung-soo at the Prime Minister’s Office. Given that the prospects of holding a Japan-ROK summit meeting are still uncertain, can you tell us the content of the discussions? 

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY SUGA: I offered my congratulations to Ambassador Yoo on his appointment. I believe the meeting was more of a courtesy call. As all of you know, Ambassador Yoo enjoys close relations with Japan, having served as the Secretary General of the Korea-Japan Friendship Association, making him an influential ambassador. In particular, the year 2015 marks the 50th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations between Japan and the ROK, so we also discussed our shared commitment to forging a bilateral relationship that allows the people of both countries to celebrate this milestone.

(Abridged)