Okada to visit India, Thailand to discuss nuke pact, journalist's death+

TOKYO, Aug. 20 Kyodo - Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada said Friday he will make a five-day trip to India and Thailand to discuss issues such as a bilateral civilian nuclear cooperation pact with New Delhi and a probe into the death of a Japanese cameraman amid violent clashes in Bangkok.

Okada, who left Japan on Friday evening, is scheduled to hold talks with Indian
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna on
Saturday and Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and Foreign Minister Kasit
Piromya on Monday.
Before his departure, Okada told a press conference in Tokyo that he is also
ready to take up bilateral negotiations on concluding a free trade agreement
during his strategic dialogue with Krishna.
Japan and India have been negotiating the free trade deal since January 2007
and the two countries are expected to reach a basic accord during Singh's visit
to Japan scheduled for later this year, according to sources close to the
matter.
The two countries also launched in late June talks on signing the civilian
nuclear pact, which will allow Japan to export its nuclear power generation
technology and related equipment to India.
But the move has triggered an outcry from survivors of the 1945 U.S. atomic
bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, because India has developed nuclear
arms without signing the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Okada told the news conference that he will ''candidly convey to India critical
public opinions in Japan'' regarding the bilateral nuclear cooperation deal and
urge New Delhi to make efforts toward nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation.
The minister said Japan and India will need to discuss what to do if India
conducts a nuclear test in their future civilian nuclear pact negotiations.
Noting that India and Japan share the ultimate goal of eliminating nuclear
weapons, the Japanese minister said he will discuss with Indian ministers how
the two countries can cooperate in implementing concrete steps to realize that
aim.
In New Delhi, a spokesman for India's foreign office said the sides will hold
discussions on ''all bilateral issues,'' including the proposed civil nuclear
agreement.
''(But) we don't like to discuss the (nuclear question) in the public domain,
as we appreciate the sentiments of Japan because Japan is the only country in
the world that has been a victim of that weapon,'' Gautam Bambawale, joint
secretary (East Asia), said in deflecting questions on the possible nuclear
deal.
In Thailand, Okada is expected to call on the Thai ministers once again for a
full accounting and investigation of the shooting death of Japan-based Reuters
television cameraman Hiroyuki Muramoto in April amid violent clashes between
security forces and antigovernment protesters in the Thai capital.
He will also seek assistance for Japanese companies that sustained damage
during the violent demonstrations, Japanese officials said.
Muramoto, 43, died after being shot in the chest while filming clashes in
Bangkok on April 10.
Okada is also scheduled to discuss with the Thai ministers the development of
the Mekong region encompassing Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam,
the officials said.
==Kyodo