MEDIA REACTION - SIX-PARTY TALKS - TOKYO

UNCLAS TOKYO 000426 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR I/RF, PA/PR/FPC/W, IIP/G/EA, EAP/PD, R/MR, EAP/J, EAP/P, PM; USTR FOR PUBLIC AFFAIRS OFFICE; TREASURY FOR OASIA/IMI; SECDEF FOR OASD/PA; CP BUTLER OKINAWA FOR AREA FIELD OFFICE; PACOM HONOLULU FOR PUBLIC DIPLOMACY ADVISOR E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: OIIP KMDR KPAO JA SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION - SIX-PARTY TALKS - TOKYO LEAD STORIES: Wednesday morning's liberal Mainichi front- paged a rise of calls among senior ruling party officials for the resignation of Health, Labor, and Welfare Minister Yanagisawa, who caused a stir by calling women "baby-making machines" during a recent speech. ¶1. "Six-Party Talks: North Korea Has No Choice But to Denuclearize" The top-circulation, moderate Yomiuri editorialized (1/31): "At the next round of the six-party talks, which are to resume on February 8 in Beijing, will there be any concrete progress that will lead to North Korea's denuclearization? The chief US and DPRK negotiators held a three-day meeting in Berlin the week before last. We presume that the US strongly urged the North to move forward on scrapping its nuclear ambitions. The question is how Pyongyang will react in the six-party forum. Considering its past record, there is little reason to be optimistic.... There are concerns that the North Koreans may adopt the ploy of agreeing to freeze their nuclear program in return for the partial lifting of US financial sanctions, which would enable them to resume making nuclear weapons any time they please.... If North Korea does not move forward on denuclearization at the talks, members of the international community will have to join hands to ratchet up the pressure. The UNSC sanctions resolution would serve as an important basis for doing so." SCHIEFFER