DAILY SUMMARY OF JAPANESE PRESS 06/29/06

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 07 TOKYO 003620 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR E, P, EB, EAP/J, EAP/P, EAP/PD, PA WHITE HOUSE/NSC/NEC; JUSTICE FOR STU CHEMTOB IN ANTI-TRUST DIVISION; TREASURY/OASIA/IMI/JAPAN; DEPT PASS USTR/PUBLIC AFFAIRS OFFICE; SECDEF FOR JCS-J-5/JAPAN, DASD/ISA/EAPR/JAPAN; DEPT PASS ELECTRONICALLY TO USDA FAS/ITP FOR SCHROETER; PACOM HONOLULU FOR PUBLIC DIPLOMACY ADVISOR; CINCPAC FLT/PA/ COMNAVFORJAPAN/PA. E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: OIIP KMDR KPAO PGOV PINR ECON ELAB JA SUBJECT: DAILY SUMMARY OF JAPANESE PRESS 06/29/06 INDEX: (1) Tokyo will not allow Pyongyang to bring abduction issue to close with family reunion between Japanese abductee Megumi Yokota's husband and his family; Japan stands firm in aiming to bring all abductees back to Japan (2) Prime Minister Koizumi makes Yasukuni a campaign issue in LDP presidential race (3) Post-Koizumi diplomatic strategy after end of honeymoon-like Japan-US relations (Part 3): US stands in way of Japan's diplomacy (4) I will do my utmost, says JA Zenchu Chairman Isamu Miyata (5) Japan-US alliance at crossroads ARTICLES: (1) Tokyo will not allow Pyongyang to bring abduction issue to close with family reunion between Japanese abductee Megumi Yokota's husband and his family; Japan stands firm in aiming to bring all abductees back to Japan TOKYO SHIMBUN (Page 2) (Full) June 29, 2006 By Ryuji Watanabe Speaking of the family reunion between South Korean abductee Kim Young Nam, who is believed to be the husband of Japanese abductee Megumi Yokota, and his family, the Japanese government yesterday noted, "We won't allow North Korea to bring the abduction issue to a close," according to an official concerned with Japan-North Korea negotiations. Japan steadfastly maintains the policy of aiming to bring all abductees back to Japan. At a press conference after the family reunion took place, Chief Cabinet Secretary SHINZO ABE stressed: "It's good for the family to reunite, and we must connect this to resolving the abduction issue." Since North Korea announced a family reunion plan for the Kim family, the Japanese government has assumed, as a government source said: "Nobody in North Korea has freedom. So North Korea would aim to bring the abduction issue to a close by having Young Nam and his family say, 'Megumi is dead.'" "Whatever the other side may say, Japan won't be swayed and will do quietly what we should do. Our policy remains the same. We aim to resolve the abduction issue by bringing all Japanese abductees alive in North Korea back to Japan," this source added, indicating that this is the government's position. Reportedly, Megumi was not talked about during the family reunion yesterday. The Japanese government, however, assumes that North Korea will give a detailed account of the evidence relating to the death of Megumi during a press conference by Young Nam set for today or on other occasions. In the talks in Beijing in early February between the Japanese and North Korean governments, Japan urged North Korea to (1) return abductees to Japan; (2) illuminate the truth; and (3) hand the abductors over to Japan. North Korean officials, however, did not TOKYO 00003620 002 OF 007 come up with any positive answer at all. At one point in the past, North Korea insisted that the abduction issue has been already settled. Even now, there is no doubt that Pyongyang wants to put an end to the abduction issue without accepting Japan's assertions, if possible. Japan intends to aim to resolve the abduction issue via a dual approach of dialogue and pressure, but North Korea is certain to stand against Japan, as evidenced by the family reunion this time. Tokyo will urge Pyongyang to come up with a sincere response by further stepping up pressure on it. Abe: Kim Young Nam is likely the same man who identified himself as Megumi's husband during meeting with Japanese survey team At a news conference yesterday afternoon, Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo ABE was asked about South Korean abductee Kim Young Nam, believed to be the husband of Megumi, and said: "It is highly probable that he is the same man who identified himself as Kim Chol Jun, whom North Koreans said was Megumi's husband." Abe told reporters that several Japanese government officials who have met with Kim Chol Jun confirmed from video footage of the family reunion that Kim Young Nam was identical to Kim Chol Jun. Referring to how Japan will deal with North Korea down the road, ABE said, "There are contradictions (in what Mr. Kim Chol Jun said to Japanese government officials). We need to verify this." He indicated he would ask North Korea about them. In this regard, a government source commented: "There are several questions about the letter Mr. Kim Chol Jun sent to Megumi's parents four years ago. For instance, the letter showed the date of Megumi's death, but that date was the one before North Korea revised it." (2) Prime Minister Koizumi makes Yasukuni a campaign issue in LDP presidential race ASAHI (Page 4) (Abridged slightly) June 29, 2006 Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi told reporters in Ottawa, Canada, on June 27: "Is the Chinese leader's assertion that he cannot hold Japan-China summits because I visit Yasukuni Shrine acceptable? Those opposing my visits to the shrine believe that China's such a view is correct." He then added: "Those who tell me to obey the Chinese side's demands are those who oppose my visits to Yasukuni Shrine, aren't they? I wonder if such a view is correct." He stated in a press conference in March: "If we do something that China does not want, Japan-China relations will not go well." It is true that the view is strong in the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) that it is not the case that the prime minister should stop visiting the shrine because he has been told to do so by other countries. However, some LDP members have opposed Koizumi's annual pilgrimages to Yasukuni Shrine, attaching emphasis to constitutional doubts and the responsibility of Class-A war criminals for the World War II. They are not just giving consideration to China, but they are seriously concerned that Koizumi's visits to the shrine have TOKYO 00003620 003 OF 007 narrowed options for Japan's Asia diplomacy. Koizumi's remarks on the 27th in Canada appear to have simplified the Yasukuni issue and created a situation similar to last year's House of Representatives election in which the prime minister asked voters whether they agreed or disagreed with his postal-privatization plan. Koizumi has reiterated that the Yasukuni issue should not be a campaign issue in the LDP presidential race. "The more he talks about the issue, the more Yasukuni becomes a campaign issue," said a former cabinet member. The dominant view in political circles is that if Koizumi visits Yasukuni Shrine on Aug. 15, it will inevitably become a campaign issue. Chief Cabinet Secretary SHINZO Abe, who supports Koizumi's visits to the shrine but takes the position that Yasukuni should not be made to be a major campaign issue, just stated in a press conference yesterday: "There are those who have fundamentally opposed the visits to the shrine, and some others who are opposing to them due to the same reason as that the prime minister has pointed out." Anti-Abe forces in the post-Koizumi race are strongly calling for making Yasukuni a campaign issue. Koichi Kato, a former LDP secretary general, yesterday underlined: SIPDIS "It is a big mistake to think that the Yasukuni issue is a matter of the heart. It's a diplomatic issue. Therefore, we will have to thoroughly discuss it in the party presidential campaign." New Komeito leader Takenori Kanzaki told reporters: "It is not that the Japanese public opposes the prime minister's annual pilgrimages to Yasukuni Shrine just because China has said that the prime minister should stop visiting the shrine. The prime minister should take public opinion into consideration." (3) Post-Koizumi diplomatic strategy after end of honeymoon-like Japan-US relations (Part 3): US stands in way of Japan's diplomacy MAINICHI (Page 2) (Slightly abridged) June 28, 2006 When informed in August 2002 of a plan for Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to visit North Korea on Sept. 17, a senior member of the Foreign Ministry's North American Affairs Bureau felt a strong shock. He compared the shock to the Nixon Shock that followed President Nixon's historic trip to China in 1972. Japan had not been informed beforehand of Nixon's visit to China. Koizumi's visit to North Korea was also planned behind closed doors under the lead of the Prime Minister's Office. When information of the prime minister's visit plan reached the North American Affairs Bureau, which has been dubbed as the "Japan desk of the US State Department," it was greatly shocked, but the news also gave a shock to Washington. In his State of the Union address in January 2002, President Bush had branded North Korea and two other countries an "Axis of Evil," expressing his determination to continue to fight terrorism. In reference to the remark, Koizumi indicated his understanding to Bush during their meeting in February of the same year. Five days before his departure for North Korea, Koizumi held a meeting with Bush in New York, in which the two leaders exchanged TOKYO 00003620 004 OF 007 sharp words. Bush warned Koizumi not to be so eager to promote talks on normalizing diplomatic relations between Japan and North Korea, saying: "If you really go, I would like you to also discuss such issues as nuclear, missile, and conventional weapons thoroughly, in addition to human rights." In winding up the meeting, the president said: "Good luck," but according to a senior Foreign Ministry official, "The atmosphere in the US government was such that the prime minister's visit to North Korea was unacceptable to all officers, excepting the president." Two days after he visited Pyongyang, the prime minister briefed the president on his tour on the phone: "You probably hate it, but there will be no other choice but to talk directly with President Kim Jong Il. How about sending personnel to Pyongyang?" The prime minister's aim was to urge the US to take a policy of dialogue. Prime Minister Koizumi has taken a cooperative policy stance toward the US over the past five years. Former Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa criticizes his stance toward the US as "going too far," keeping in mind Japan's responses to the Iraq war and the realignment of US forces in Japan. The surprise visit to Pyongyang, though, was a diplomatic approach completely independent from the US. The prime minister was also aiming to normalizing diplomatic ties between Japan and North Korea in 2002. The horror of the abductions, though, escalated anti-North Korea feelings in the nation. As if to add fuel to the fire, the US government released information on Pyongyang's nuclear development, blocking Japan's efforts to normalize diplomatic ties with North Korea in 2002. In response to Koizumi's suggestion, Assistant Secretary of State Kelly visited North Korea. After returning home, Kelly informed Tokyo that Pyongyang acknowledged that it had a uranium-enrichment program in response to his disclosure that Washington has obtained information on the plan. In 2003, Pyongyang escalated its brinkmanship diplomacy by announcing its plan to withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and that it had nuclear weapons. In the Japanese government, the leadership in dealing with North Korean issues has shifted to hardliners, including Chief Cabinet Secretary SHINZO Abe, backed by public sentiment and the US. As a SIPDIS result, "dialogue and pressure" has become the government's basic policy. The prime minister, who gave up on an early normalization of diplomatic relations with North Korea, met with President Bush in Crawford, Texas, in May 2003. According to Kelly, Bush and Koizumi "totally agreed on a diplomatic approach to North Korea." The prime minister tried to pave the way to normalizing diplomatic relations with North Korea by making another visit to Pyongyang in May 2004, but the negotiations have been at an impasse. North Korea has continued to refuse to return to the six-party talks and appears to be preparing to test-fire a Taepodong-2 missile. The dominant view in the government and the ruling parties is that it will be impossible to break the impasse in Japan-North Korea relations and that a third visit to North Korea by Prime Minister Koizumi is inconceivable. Under such a situation, Chief Cabinet Secretary ABE and Foreign Minister Taro Aso, who are likely SIPDIS candidates for the upcoming Liberal Democratic Party presidential election, began to launch a diplomatic offensive in a bid to establish an international coalition against North Korea over the TOKYO 00003620 005 OF 007 abduction and missile issues. Will the prime minister's goal of normalizing diplomatic ties between Japan and North Korea fizzle out? (4) I will do my utmost, says JA Zenchu Chairman Isamu Miyata The Agriculture News (Full) June, 2006 A ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organization (WTO) will start in Geneva, Switzerland, from June 29. The talks will go to the wire with an eye on drafting modalities (guidelines for cutting protectionist tariffs). Isam Miyata, chairman of the Central Union of Agricultural Cooperatives (Zenchu) will go to Geneva as a leader of the delegation of the JA Group in order to assist the Japanese government in the talks, which will aim at realizing trade rules that ensure the coexistence of the diverse agriculture of various countries. In Geneva, he will strengthen cooperation with agricultural groups representing food importing countries (G-10),including Japan, and the European Union. He will relay messages from farmers around the world at the conference hosted by the Swiss Farmers Federation to be held on the eve of the ministerial meeting. He is focusing his mind on the upcoming final-stage talks, saying: "I will assist Agriculture Minister Shoichi Nakagawa with all my strength along with the group of lawmakers of the Liberal Democratic Party and delegations from the fisheries and forestry industries." In particular, he is determined to fight with a firm stance of absolutely rejecting the selfish proposals of the US and Brazil, which are calling for substantially reduced tariffs and restricting the number of key trade items eligible for being treated as exceptions. (5) Japan-US alliance at crossroads MAINICHI (Page 20) (Abridged) June 28, 2006 The security of Japan has been affected by America's global strategy throughout the postwar period. In particular, Okinawa has been forced to shoulder a heavy burden for the security of mainland Japan. A nationwide movement against the US-Japan Security Treaty eventually developed into a broad-based peace movement. The Japan-US alliance has also changed with the end of the Cold War and the emergence of new threats, exemplified by America's war on terror. US Forces Japan Commander Lt. Gen. Bruce Wright expressed hopes for Japan's greater contributions, saying: "It is necessary to continue discussing to what extent we should contribute to the peace and stability of the Asia-Pacific region." Civic movement On June 15 this year -- exactly 46 years after a massive student demonstration against the Diet to protest the US-Japan Security Treaty -- some 300 people again headed for the Diet in the rain. Included in the demonstrators was Koichiro Shinohara, 68, a former student activist. Shinohara was arrested in the April 26, 1960, Diet demonstration and sent to prison. He later became a director of a Tokyo-based nonprofit organization providing telecommunications assistance to TOKYO 00003620 006 OF 007 disaster-stricken areas in Asia and other regions. Shinohara, who is still deeply committed to the peace of Japan, took this view about Japan-US relations: "Japan is subordinate to the United States. I believe the anti-Security Treaty movement helped prevent Japan from becoming a major military power. Japan must remain as a non-military power. Japan should use the United States politically and diplomatically by utilizing innovative ideas." Yoshiko Nakamura, the 33-year-old secretary general of Peace Depot, a think tank in Kanagawa Prefecture, has been endeavoring to present cogent counterplans to the government in a bid to guide Japan and the US in the right direction. Nakamura became one of a few professional activists in Japan in the spring of 2001 after studying international relations at a university and a graduate school in the United States. Peace Depot presented many proposals, including a plan to conclude a treaty among Japan, South Korea, North Korea, the United States, Russia, and China to make Northeast Asia a demilitarized zone. Nakamura finds Japan's willingness to remain under America's nuclear umbrella despite its being the only victim of atomic bombing utterly disagreeable. "Japan's security is at a crossroads. I want to ask the government if it thinks the current system is sufficient to defend the country." Okinawa The History of the Ryukyus and Okinawa, a high school textbook and the first guide to the history of Okinawa, has sold 15,000 copies since it went on sale in March 2001. Its author is Toshiaki Arashiro, a 55-year-old high school social studies teacher. Arashiro penned it in the hope that the children of Okinawa will learn lessons from Okinawa's past and establish their own identity. Arashiro's boyhood was packed with unfortunate events. There was an Okinawa-wide movement started in 1956 to resist leasing land to the US military. Arashiro's father died at age 28 after being hit by a vehicle driven by a US serviceman. Arashiro was just five. Arashiro's father was blamed for the accident, and the US serviceman was acquitted. With no compensation from the US military, the young Arashiro was forced to move to Naha to live in a relative's house along with his grandmother. Four year later, in 1960, an Okinawa association to return to Japan was launched. In 1968, Arashiro took part in the national high school athletic meet in Hiroshima. His inability to answer questions from other students on Okinawa's history prior to the Battle of Okinawa prompted him to become a history teacher. Okinawa's movement to return to Japan gradually escalated into a movement to go under the pacifist Constitution in tandem with an anti-Vietnam War movement. In 1974, two years after Okinawa returned to Japan, Arashiro became a junior high school teacher in his hometown of Motobu. In 1977, he published The History of Okinawa at his own expense. In 1994, he also published at his expense The History of the Ryukyus and Okinawa, which is now in use at nearly 20 high schools in Okinawa. The chapter on the Battle of Okinawa reflects his strong desire that TOKYO 00003620 007 OF 007 future generations will not repeat the same mistake by learning lessons from the history of Okinawa. US forces and SDF US force realignment will accelerate the integration of US forces in Japan and the Self-Defense Forces. On May 1, a road map was released for the implementation of US force realignment. An agreement was also reached on joint training, joint base use, and joint operational plans. Eight scouts swam some 300 meters to the shore and ensured safety first and then 30 armed troops aboard five rubber boats jumped onto the beach in pitch darkness. This was part of the training members from the Western Army Infantry Regiment conducted. In January, 125 GSDF personnel received training for about a month directly from US Marines in California. Looking back on the joint training, the regiment's commander Yoji Yamanaka said: "We keenly felt it was far more effective than descending from helicopters. We are going to apply the skills we learned from the US Marines to drills in Japan." A sense of cooperation is growing between Japan's SDF and the US military. US Forces Japan Commander Lt. Gen. Bruce Wright also categorically said: "Onsite training is important, although such is costly and involves some risks. But there isn't any training that is more effective." In addition to the GSDF, joint drills were conducted earlier this month in Guam by the Air Self-Defense Force 3rd Air Wing (based in the Misawa base),the US 5th Air Force (Yokota base),and the 11th Air Force 3rd Air Wing (Alaska). The US Air Force and the ASDF are also scheduled to conduct joint drills at Kaneda Air Base. DONOVAN