Japan, U.S. reaffirm cooperation on S. Korean ship, base row+

TOKYO, May 21 Kyodo -
Japan and the United States confirmed Friday their unity in responding to the
deadly sinking of a South Korean warship, for which North Korea has been found
responsible, and cooperation in trying to settle the thorny issue of where to
relocate a U.S. Marine Corps base in Okinawa by the end of May.
Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who
held talks in Tokyo, also shared concerns over Iran's uranium enrichment and
agreed to closely cooperate on the issue.
Okada told a joint press conference Japan will ''play an active role'' in
international efforts toward the adoption of a U.N. Security Council resolution
to impose additional sanctions against Iran.
Their meeting was held a day after South Korea said a multinational team of
investigators had found North Korea responsible for the fatal sinking of the
warship in March.
Okada said he and Clinton agreed that it is important for Japan, the United
States and South Korea to work closely together to deal with the incident,
while Clinton told the news conference that Washington will try to work out its
detailed policy on North Korea in a week.
''We cannot allow this attack on South Korea to go unanswered by the
international community,'' Clinton said.
''We will determine our best options moving forward and send a clear and
unmistakable message to North Korea regarding the international community's and
most particularly, its neighbors' concerns about its behavior,'' she said. ''I
look forward to being able to work out the details over the next week.''
According to Okada, he asked the U.S. secretary of state ''with a sense of
expectation'' whether Washington intends to put North Korea back on a list of
state sponsors of terrorism, but she did not give a clear answer.
Clinton later met with Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama. In her meetings with
Okada and the premier, they agreed that the significance of the Japan-U.S.
security alliance has been growing at a time when tension and uncertainties are
increasing in Northeast Asia.
On the issue of where to move the U.S. Marine Corps' Futemma Air Station in
Okinawa, Japan and the United States agreed that they will make further efforts
to settle the matter by May 31.
Okada said he hopes the two countries will find ''a broad direction'' toward
settlement of the issue, and that the Japanese government will make efforts to
gain the understanding of the people of Okinawa.
Clinton stressed at the news conference that Washington hopes to find a
solution that would be ''operationally viable and politically sustainable.''
Her remarks apparently suggest that the Hatoyama government needs to gain
consent from Okinawa residents as well as its coalition partners on the matter.
Tokyo and Washington will aim to reach a fresh accord on where to transfer the
Futemma facility by May 31, the deadline set by Hatoyama, and foreign and
defense officials of the two countries continued their preparation Friday on
the pact expected to be announced May 28.
Sources close to Japan-U.S. relations said the agreement will not be final and
most likely details such as how to build a replacement facility will be left
for future negotiations.
During the talks with Okada, Clinton also sought Tokyo's early accession to the
1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction to
address the problem of parental ''abductions'' to Japan of children of failed
marriages between Japanese and U.S. citizens.
Okada responded by saying Japan is trying to resolve domestic obstacles to
joining the treaty, according to the Japanese minister.
During the meeting, Okada and Clinton also shared concerns over the ongoing
political turmoil in Thailand and expressed expectations that the situation
will be peacefully resolved in the Southeast Asian country, a Japanese official
said.
Clinton briefly stopped in Tokyo for talks with Okada and Hatoyama en route to
Shanghai. She last visited Japan in February last year.
After the stopover in Tokyo, Clinton will visit the World Expo in Shanghai and
then travel to Beijing to attend the second meeting of the U.S.-China Strategic
Economic Dialogue with U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Monday and
Tuesday.
On Wednesday, she will make a brief visit to South Korea for talks with Foreign
Minister Yu Myung Hwan.
==Kyodo
2010-05-21 23:37:25


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