Press Conference by the Chief Cabinet Secretary (Excerpt)

Opening Statement by Chief Cabinet Secretary Suga

(Abridged)

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY SUGA: (With regard to the Ise-Shima Summit ministerial meetings,) the Government properly considered the various issues facing the international community as well as the standpoint of vitalizing local economies, and decided to hold the meetings in the following cities that were chosen from the candidate areas, each of which has outstanding regional qualities: the Science and Technology Ministers’ Meeting in Tsukuba; the Information and Communication Ministers’ Meeting in Takamatsu; the Education Ministers’ Meeting in Kurashiki; the Health Ministers’ Meeting in Kobe; the Agriculture Ministers’ Meeting in Niigata; the Energy Ministers’ Meeting in Kitakyushu; the Transport Ministers’ Meeting in Karuizawa; and the Environment Ministers’ Meeting in Toyama. In addition to these meetings, I have already announced on the 26th of last month that the Foreign Ministers’ Meeting will be held in Hiroshima, and the Finance Ministers’ and Central Bank Governors’ Meeting in Sendai. Upon making the necessary arrangements, the relevant ministries and agencies will announce the dates of the ministerial meetings when the time is appropriate.

(Abridged)

Tomorrow, July 4, will mark one year since North Korea established the Special Investigation Committee and started its investigations. Japan has executed the May 2014 Stockholm Agreement in good faith. While no specific deadlines for the investigations were agreed upon between Japan and North Korea, it is deeply regrettable that the abductees have still not returned to Japan one year after the start of the investigations. We have been making efforts in relation to North Korea through the embassy channel in Beijing regarding this matter. However, recently, North Korea informed us that although it has been conducting comprehensive investigations on all Japanese nationals in a sincere manner, the investigations would take a little longer. The Government finds this regrettable but intends to strengthen its efforts to quickly elicit concrete responses from the North Korean side. The Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Minister in charge of the Abduction Issue have been instructed to this effect. The Government of Japan will decide its future responses while assessing the outcomes of these efforts. The Government is committed to realizing the return to Japan of all victims of abduction by continuing to uphold the principles of “dialogue and pressure” and “action for action.”

Q&As

(Abridged)