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. -------------- Broadcasting -------------- ¶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 �00A; -------------- -------------- "Shiokaze" - Japanese Broadcasts into North Korea -------------- -------------- ¶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. -------------- Abductees -------------- 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.) -------------- Returnees -------------- ¶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. -------------- Human Rights -------------- ¶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