SENK ADVISOR DISCUSSES NORTH KOREAN HUMAN RIGHTS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TOKYO 001251

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/20/2017
TAGS: BBG PGOV PHUM PREF JA KN
SUBJECT: SENK ADVISOR DISCUSSES NORTH KOREAN HUMAN RIGHTS
WITH JAPAN NGO'S

REF: TOKYO 04602

Classified By: Ambassador J. Thomas Schieffer. Reasons 1.4 (B) (D)


1. (C) Summary: In March 4-5 Tokyo meetings, Christian
Whiton, Senior Advisor to Special Envoy for North Korean
Human Rights Jay Lefkowitz, discussed plans to promote North
Korean human rights. While citing obstacles to regular U.S.
medium-wave broadcasts from Japan to North Korea using
Japanese facilities, MOFA officials suggested that existing
U.S. Armed Forces Radio facilities be used &informally.8
Japanese interlocutors stressed the importance of the
abductee issue, and reiterated a request that North Korea not
be dropped from the list of terrorist sponsors prior to its
resolution. Officials said Japan is willing to accept North
Korean defectors who have a previous tie to Japan. Officials
reiterated a previous invitation for Special Envoy Lefkowitz
to visit Japan. They were open but noncommittal to raising
North Korea at the UN Human Rights Council sometime this
year. End Summary.


2. (C) Christian Whiton, Senior Advisor to Special Envoy for
North Korean Human Rights Jay Lefkowitz, met on March 4-5
with Japanese officials and NGO's to discuss projects being
implemented by Special Envoy for Human Rights in North Korea
Jay Lefkowitz, current and future U.S. activities, including
expanded funding for broadcasting into North Korea, and plans
being considered by the Japanese government. Topics
discussed included: abductees, returnees (ethnic Koreans and
their families previously living in Japan who emigrated back
to North Korea from 1959-1984 and who now wish to return to
Japan),broadcasting by the BBG and independent groups,
opportunities to raise DPRK human rights issues in UN and
other venues, and a possible visit to Japan by Special Envoy
Lefkowitz.

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Broadcasting
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3. (C) MOFA Northeast Asia Division Director Shigeo Yamada
reiterated some of the impediments to U.S. government and
independent broadcasts from Japan outlined in Ref A. Yamada
noted that the U.S. already had a medium-wave option in the
frequencies allotted to Armed Forces Radio. Hinting that
this could be a means to broadcast into North Korea from
Japan, Yamada indicated that broadcast "bleeding" from
Japan-based AFRTS that reached North Korea would be
&understandable.8

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"Shiokaze" - Japanese Broadcasts into North Korea
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4. (C) Whiton met with representatives of the Investigation
Committee on Missing Japanese Probably Related to North Korea
(COMJAN),who operate the "Shiokaze" broadcasts directed at
abductees in North Korea. This program at present broadcasts
one hour via short-wave (from Taiwan) each day. A morning
broadcast is in Japanese, and an evening broadcast is in
Korean and occasionally other languages. COMJAN was recently
offered 5 million yen (approx. USD 42,000) subsidy by the
government, but rejected it in protest of the February 13
agreement reached in the Six-Party Talks, which they felt did
not adequately provide for resolution of the abductee issue.
Staffers from the Cabinet Secretariat separately provided a
written summary of Shiokaze's broadcast programming, and
characterized the station as a "private contractor
commissioned by the Japanese government." The document
indicates that the broadcasts are transmitted from an
overseas site "due to the lack of capacity of a transmitter
in Japan." Content includes news, letters from the families
of abductees, and entertainment.

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Abductees
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TOKYO 00001251 002 OF 002




5. (C) All Japanese officials and most NGOs noted the
importance of the abductee issue to Japan. The foreign
ministry's Yamada reiterated Japan's request that North Korea
not be dropped from the State Department's list of terrorist
sponsor nations absent progress on the abduction issue. He
said PM Abe would raise this with President Bush. Tokyo
officials further noted that they would not normalize
relations with North Korea until a satisfactory resolution to
the abduction issue is achieved. Naoki Fujii, Counsellor to
the Prime Minister's Special Advisor for the Abduction Issue
in the Secretariat's Headquarters for the Abduction Issue,
reiterated these points. Fujii also asked that a technical
correction be made to our terrorist report to indicate that
five of Japan's abductees returned in 2002, vice 2003.
Representatives of Japan's two leading abductee groups, The
Association of Families of Victims Kidnapped by North Korea
(AFVKN) and the National Association for the Rescue of
Persons Kidnapped by North Korea (NARKN),repeated that
request and asked for a number of other minor technical
corrections. (Note: Embassy Tokyo passed the request for a
date change to the Department in late February when the error
was first brought to our attention.)

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Returnees
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6. (C) Yamada requested that the U.S. inform Japan if it
learns of any refugees interested in resettling in Japan. He
said that Japan would accept individuals with ties to Japan,
and Tokyo had already taken in approximately 100 people. Ha
Jong Nam, Secretary General of Mindan (the Association of
Korean Residents of Japan Associated with South Korea),said
his organization helps with resettling these people in Japan.
Ha said that their mission was to support South Korean
policies, and that broader human rights issues were beyond
their capacity. Hidenori Sakanaka of Japan Aid Association
of North Korean Returnees speculated that one-half of the
approximately 93,000 returnees to North Korea in the period
from 1959 to 1984 would like to return to Japan. This number
includes 6,840 ethnic Japanese, of whom 1,830 were Japanese
women accompanying their ethnic Korean husbands.

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Human Rights
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7. (C) DPJ Rep. Masaharu Nakagawa, Chairman of the
International Parliamentarians Coalition for North Korean
Refugees and Human Rights, disclosed plans for the next
international meeting of his group in Seoul in July or August

2007. In MOFA meetings, Whiton raised the issue of the UN
Human Rights Council addressing North Korean human rights
violations sometime this year as a method for the new body to
establish credibility. He also expressed hope that the new
body would continue the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on
North Korea. MOFA officials expressed support, but were
noncommittal and noted that the next session was likely to
address only "housekeeping matters." MOFA and Cabinet
Secretariat officials reiterated a previous invitation for

SIPDIS
Special Envoy Lefkowitz to visit Japan.


8. (U) Senior Advisor Whiton cleared this message.
SCHIEFFER