JAPAN-DPRK: DIET STEPS UP INVOLVEMENT

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TOKYO 000305

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/05/2018
TAGS: PREL PGOV KN JA
SUBJECT: JAPAN-DPRK: DIET STEPS UP INVOLVEMENT

REF: A. TOKYO 232

B. TOKYO 165

TOKYO 00000305 001.2 OF 002


Classified By: CDA Joe Donovan per 1.4 (b/d)

Summary
--------------


1. (C) LDP faction leader and long-time North Korea watcher
Taku Yamasaki believes that North Korean denuclearization
must be achieved this year through the Six Party talks.
Delisting the DPRK as a state sponsor of terror should also
be effectively leveraged for the goal of denuclearization.
Yamasaki and a non-partisan Diet delegation will meet next
week with President-elect Lee Myung-bak to urge him to
support President Bush's efforts and the goal of
denuclearization this year. The Diet group will be led by
senior LDP politician Koichi Kato, who assembled the
opposition delegation members based on their willingness and
qualifications to serve as a channel to the ruling coalition
on Korean issues, including denuclearization and voting
rights for ethnic Koreans resident in Japan. Yamasaki
believes Lee Myung-bak is a realist who will care more about
the abductions issue and take a harder line with Pyongyang.
End Summary.

"Denuclearization this year"
--------------


2. (C) Taku Yamasaki -- Liberal Democratic Party (LDP)
faction leader, head of the party's Foreign Policy Advisory
Committee and Chief Advisor to the Subcommittee on North
Korea Issues -- told Embassy Tokyo on January 31 that
denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula must be realized
through the Six Party Talks during the Bush administration.
With this mind, Japan should consider what role it can play
in the process and how it can settle North Korean issues,
including abductions, such that Japanese interests are not
negatively impacted. Without settling the abductions and
other issues, Japan will not be able to normalize relations
with the DPRK, he said. In this spirit, the LDP Subcommittee
on North Korea issues was created to discuss what role the
LDP can play and how it can back the government (Ref A).


3. (C) Yamasaki's sense is that February will be key both to
advancing the denuclearization agenda and seeking
improvements in U.S.-DPRK and Japan-DPRK relations. To that
end, coordination between the United States and Japan will be
critical, and Yamasaki expressed his hope that the removal of
the DPRK from the state sponsors of terror list is
effectively leveraged to ensure the ultimate goal of
denuclearization.

Diet Group to Meet President-elect Lee
--------------


4. (C) A nonpartisan group of Diet members, including
Yamasaki, plans to visit the ROK February 10-11 and will meet
with President-elect Lee, Yamasaki said. Yamasaki intends to
say to Lee that denuclearization "must be achieved during the
next year." Although it is unknown how the next U.S.
President will approach the DPRK, it is clear that President
Bush is seeking denuclearization through the Six Party Talks,
so now is the time to act. Yamasaki will ask President-elect
Lee to support President Bush and note that PM Fukuda also
supports President Bush in this regard.


5. (C) In a separate conversation on February 4, senior LDP
Diet member Koichi Kato -- who will head the delegation to
Seoul -- told Embassy Tokyo that the delegation will include
members of the LDP, Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ),Komeito
and Social Democratic Party. Kato said that he intentionally
picked DPJ members who would be able to act as channels with
the ruling coalition on matters related to the Korean
Peninsula, including denuclearization and voting rights for
ethnic Korean residents of Japan. After consulting with DPJ
acting president Naoto Kan, Kato selected DPJ Diet members
Yoshito Sengoku, Yukio Edano, Sakihito Ozawa, Ryuichi Doi and
Ren Ho. Kato did not consult with DPJ Secretary General
Yukio Hatoyama because he would have leaked it to the press;
he also did not consult with Ichiro Ozawa because "he has no
power within the party."

Yamasaki's Views of Lee Myung-bak

TOKYO 00000305 002.2 OF 002


--------------


6. (C) Although Yamasaki did not meet Special Envoy Lee
Sang-deuk when he visited Tokyo last month (Ref B),he has
met with both Cho Suk-rae, Chairman of the Federation of
Korean Industries (and a relative of President-elect Lee),
and Yoon Jin-sik, former Commerce Minister and a member of
Lee's transition team. Based on these and other
conversations, Yamasaki's impression is that Lee is
realistic, will be more positive about relations with Japan
and will not play the history card. Lee will also likely be
more interested in the Japanese abductions issue than Roh
Moo-hyun. Similarly, because Lee's focus will probably be
more on denuclearization than unification, he will take a
harder line with Pyongyang, Yamasaki surmised.
DONOVAN