TOKYO DENIES REQUEST FOR FREEDOM BROADCASTING FROM

UNCLAS TOKYO 006940 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: BBG PHUM PGOV JA KN KS SUBJECT: TOKYO DENIES REQUEST FOR FREEDOM BROADCASTING FROM JAPAN TO NORTH KOREA REF: STATE 166931 ¶1. (U) In response to reftel, on December 8, MOFA Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau Northeast Asia Division Deputy Director Yutaka Kashiwabara notified Embassy Political Officer that Tokyo officials would not authorize foreign (i.e. U.S.) radio broadcasts to North Korea from Japanese territory. MOFA provided the following written response, which had been coordinated with various Japanese government agencies, including the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. ¶2. (U) Begin translation: ¶1. Japan,s Judicial System and Possibility of Broadcasts from Japan by Persons from the U.S. a) Foreign entities are restricted from investing in Japanese broadcast companies. Therefore, U.S. broadcasters and U.S. private groups cannot obtain a license to broadcast in Japan. Based on Japan,s Radio Law (Article 5, paragraph 4),which outlines the restrictions on foreign investment by foreign companies, licenses are not granted to: 1) non-Japanese citizens, 2) a foreign government or its representatives, 3) foreign corporate bodies or groups, 4) any corporate body or group in which a person listed in numbers 1-3 (above) serves as an executive, or in which that/those individual(s) account for one fifth or more of the right to vote. b) In Japan, all medium-wave frequency bands are allocated for domestic use. In accordance with the &Regional Agreement Concerning the Use by the Broadcasting Service of Frequencies in the Medium Frequency Bands in Regions 1 and 3 and in the Low Frequency Bands in Region 1,8 frequency bands currently allocated for the Asian region have already become saturated. Japan would need to seek consent from surrounding countries in order to obtain a new frequency band for international broadcasts and to change the existing frequency for use in international broadcasts. Japanese officials believe that obtaining this consent would be very difficult. Therefore, the Japanese government considers that there is a very slim chance that Japan,s medium-wave frequencies can be used for broadcasting to North Korea. ¶2. Description of Japan,s &Shiokaze8 Radio Broadcasts to the DPRK. The Investigation Commission on Missing Japanese Probably Related to North Korea (COMJAN),a private Japanese group, beams a short wave program to the DPRK. COMJAN,s broadcasts began in October 2005. Programs are transmitted for a total of one hour per day. The broadcasts (in Japanese) target abductees as well as missing individuals who are believed to have been abducted. Additional broadcasts (in Korean, English, Chinese, and Japanese) offer information relating to abductees and news on the abduction issue. The program is transmitted from a base station located in Taiwan by a UK-owned broadcast telecom company, VT Communications. The government of Japan does not provide financial support. ¶3. Other As stated in paragraph one above, because all of Japan,s medium-wave frequencies are allocated for domestic use, the Japanese government has never examined the possibility of using medium-wave frequencies to broadcast programs to the DPRK. We understand that private groups use short-wave frequencies for the same reason. SCHIEFFER