DPRK: PM'S ABDUCTIONS ADVISOR TAKES HEART FROM

C O N F I D E N T I A L TOKYO 002883

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/16/2018
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM KN JA
SUBJECT: DPRK: PM'S ABDUCTIONS ADVISOR TAKES HEART FROM
ONGOING SANCTIONS

Classified By: Ambassador J. Thomas Schieffer per 1.4 (b/d)


1. (C) Summary: Meeting with Embassy Tokyo October 14, Prime
Minister Aso's Special Advisor on the Abductions Issue Kyoko
Nakayama expressed relief that, although the United States
lifted the DPRK's terror designation, ongoing sanctions will
continue to require the United States to vote against IMF and
other international financial institutions' support for the
North. To resolve the abductions issue, Japan only has
economic and financial leverage, and she had feared that
removing the DPRK from the terror list would weaken this
leverage by opening the door to greater international support
for Pyongyang, she explained. End Summary.


2. (C) Kyoko Nakayama, the Prime Minister's Special Advisor
on the Abductions Issue, opened her October 14 meeting with
Embassy Tokyo Political Minister Counselor Michael Meserve
and Political Section Deputy Marc Knapper by expressing her
government's thanks for the special role the Ambassador
Schieffer has played in seeking to resolve the abductions
issue. (Note: Nakayama has had the lead on the abductions
issue since the Abe administration and served briefly as
Abductions Minister during the Fukuda administration. End
Note.) Now that the United States has removed the DPRK from
the list of state sponsors of terrorism, Japan, the United
States and others need to continue work hard to resolve the
issues before us, including denuclearization and abductions.
However, "because North Korea is not a normal country, we
must take care not to make deals based on the assumption that
it is like other countries," Nakayama said. Meserve assured
Nakayama that the United States has no illusions about North
Korea, which was why it is important to keep them in the Six
Party process, where progress could be made on
denuclearization and abductions.


3. (C) Meserve stressed that we will work with our Six Party
partners to ensure that the final verification protocol will
be acceptable. Meserve passed Special Advisor Nakayama
English- and Japanese-language versions of the fact sheet on
delisting, summary of U.S. sanctions on the DPRK, and the
press release on delisting. Meserve called Nakayama's
attention to the statement that the U.S.-DPRK agreed upon
measures "will serve as a baseline for a Verification
Protocol to be finalized and adopted by the Six Parties,"
emphasizing that Japan will have a key role in moving the
process forward. He further noted that, while the terror
designation has been lifted, there are a number of ongoing
sanctions on the DPRK.


4. (C) Studying the Department's DPRK Sanctions Fact Sheet,
Nakayama expressed relief that the Gramm Amendment, for
example, will continue to require the United States to vote
against IMF and other international financial institutions'
support for the North. "To resolve the abductions issue,
Japan only has economic and financial leverage...we would
lose this should international sources of financial support
become available to Pyongyang," she explained.


5. (C) Praising MOFA Asia DG Saiki for his "hard work" in
reaching an agreement with the DPRK to restart the abductions
investigation, Nakayama lamented that there has yet to be any
movement. Initially, the DPRK had thought that merely
agreeing to restart the investigation would be enough to win
a partial lifting of Japan's sanctions. However, "because we
cannot trust them," Saiki pushed hard and made the deal in
which the actual start of the reinvestigation would be the
trigger for Japan to partially lift sanctions, she explained.


6. (C) Comment: Nakayama, accompanied by Cabinet Secretariat
Counselors Takashi Minami and Takahiro Yoshinaga, was
obviously pleased to receive the list of U.S. sanctions that
apply to the DPRK. A hard-liner on North Korea and
abductions, she went out of her way to praise the United
States and Ambassador Schieffer for continuing to press on
abductions.
SCHIEFFER