DPJ DIET MEMBER MEETS WITH DPRK OFFICIAL IN BEIJING

C O N F I D E N T I A L TOKYO 000067 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/13/2019 TAGS: PREL PGOV PINR KN JA SUBJECT: DPJ DIET MEMBER MEETS WITH DPRK OFFICIAL IN BEIJING Classified By: DCM James P. Zumwalt per 1.4 (b/d) ¶1. (C) Summary: A DPRK official recently told opposition DPJ Diet Member Yoshihiro Kawakami that disablement activities at Yongbyon will cease if Japan does not provide its share of heavy fuel oil. The official also said that the DPRK is prepared to launch its abductions reinvestigation committee once Japan acts on its pledge to partially lift its unilateral sanctions (although Japan's understanding of its agreement with the North is that it will partially lift sanctions only after the DPRK officially launches the committee). Kawakami -- who represents the pro-dialogue group within the DPJ and is close to party leader Ichiro Ozawa -- told Embassy Tokyo that his party will seek to improve ties with the DPRK and separate the abductions issue from denuclearization should it take power, a point he also made to his DPRK interlocutor. End Summary. ¶2. (C) Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) Upper House Diet Member Yoshihiro Kawakami met in late December with Kim Song Gi, DCM of the DPRK's Embassy in Beijing, to discuss Japan-DPRK relations and bilateral ties under a possible DPJ government. Kawakami is senior among the DPJ legislators who support dialogue with the DPRK and seek to separate the abductions issue from denuclearization, and is part of an informal and bipartisan group of Diet Members (that includes senior LDP politician Taku Yamasaki) who are pushing for improved ties with the DPRK. Kawakami is also close to DPJ leader Ichiro Ozawa. ¶3. (C) During their nearly two-hour meeting, Kim told Kawakami that, in the event that Japan does not "provide its share of heavy fuel oil," the DPRK will halt disablement activities at Yongbyon (which Kim said are "90 percent complete,") Kawakami related to Embassy Tokyo January 13. Kim also told Kawakami that substitute HFO from "Australia or elsewhere" would be unacceptable. "If Japan can't hold up its end of the bargain, then North Korea will press for Japan's removal from the Six Party process," Kim told Kawakami. ¶4. (C) On the issue of abductions, Kawakami relayed that Kim told him that the DPRK's reinvestigation committee is set up and ready to go; "all we need is for Japan to do as it promised: partially lift its restrictions on charter flights and travel between the two countries." Kawakami noted to Embassy Tokyo that this DPRK position is at odds with Japan's understanding of the deal reached in August 2008 by MOFA Asia DG Saiki and Kim Song Ho: that Japan would partially lift sanctions only after the DPRK formally announced the launching of the reinvestigation committee. ¶5. (C) Kawakami told Embassy Tokyo that DPJ leader Ozawa "fully supports" dialogue with the DPRK, and that the DPJ will pursue this policy in the event that it takes power; "I told as much to Kim," Kawakami added. Although the DPJ has its share of anti-DPRK hardliners (such as Lower House members Hiroshi Nakai and Shu Watanabe),"they get it and understand the need to not let abductions hamstring progress on denuclearization," Kawakami stressed. SCHIEFFER