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2018 April 18 - 24 TOP3 [JCP]

Shii at FCCJ speaks about JCP proposal for solving North Korea issue

Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo on April 18 at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan talked about the JCP proposal to member countries of the Six-Party Talks for solving the North Korea nuclear and missile issue.

The JCP in its proposal emphasized the need to promote the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and the building of a permanent peace structure in Northeast Asia in an integrated and comprehensive manner. In order to achieve this, the JCP calls on the six countries to discuss measures that they can agree upon and to implement them in a timely fashion.

Explaining the necessity of making integrated and comprehensive efforts for the denuclearization and the construction of a peace structure, Shii referred to statements made by former U.S. defense chief William Perry who once worked at the front line of the U.S. administration effort to cope with North Korea. Shii stressed that it is necessary to take into account what Perry said.

Perry in his lecture delivered on April 11 in Tokyo talked about what should be learned from the “successes and failures of the past” negotiations with Pyongyang. He pointed out that for him, the most significant lesson was to understand what motivated the North Korean regime to conduct nuclear and missile development programs. He said that like the U.S. nuclear deterrence strategy, the North seeks to ensure its national security by possessing nuclear deterrence capability. Recalling his experience of negotiations with the North Korean government, the ex-U.S. top defense official said that “while they were always interested in economic benefits and always willing to pocket them, the ones they were far more interested in were security assurances and building long-term relations.” The North will never hold negotiations that would diminish its national security, Perry added.

Shii noted that Prime Minister Abe in response to the North Korea issue advocated a policy of rejecting dialogue and clinging to maximizing pressure, but such a policy has obviously resulted in failure. Shii said, “The need now is for the Japanese government to change its policy and actively engage in the recent move toward a peaceful solution through dialogue.”

Shii reported that the JCP sent its proposal to the six countries through various channels, including their diplomats in Tokyo. He also said that the JCP proposal was handed to the representative of Mongolia, an important Northeast Asian country, as well as to the ambassadors of Vietnam and Singapore, the previous and current ASEAN chairs.

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In a question-and-answer session after his presentation, Shii, in responding to questions from the floor, enumerated positive prospects for progress in upcoming meetings between North and South Korean leaders as well as between North Korean and U.S. leaders.

Shii pointed out that the current move for top-level meetings had stemmed from a speech delivered by South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who called for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and the establishment of peace in the region, at the United Nations in September last year.

Shii said, "I'm sure that Pyongyang and Seoul are carefully preparing for a bilateral summit. Given that U.S. President Donald Trump has said he supports their talks in order to not only denuclearize the Korean Peninsula but also formally end the state of war, it seems reasonable for us to expect a successful outcome."

Shii also said, "As for a summit meeting between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and U.S. President Trump, I cannot predict what will happen. But, I can say for sure that both Pyongyang and Washington have a desire for their meeting to succeed. So, I look forward to good result."

He continued to say, "They may possibly come to an agreement on mutually beneficial objectives as a result of the summit meetings. But, I believe that the process for giving shape to and actually implementing them will take time and not be easy. Cool-headed and persistent efforts based on lessons learned from what happened so far will be necessary for all the countries concerned as well as the global community."

Past related articles:
> JCP Chair Shii meets with PM Abe to discuss North Korea issue [April 10, 2018]
> JCP calls for efforts to denuclearize Korean Peninsula and build peace structure in integrated and phased manner [April 7, 2018]
> JCP calls for denuclearizing Korean Peninsula and building peace structure in integrated manner [March 30, 2018]
> Shii talks with S. Korean Ambassador on Korean Peninsula situation [March 23, 2018]
> JCP welcomes move to hold US-North Korea summit talks [March 10, 2018]
> Japan should work for success of US-N. Korea summit [March 10, 2018]
> JCP welcomes the agreement to hold a summit meeting between the North and the South [March 8, 2018]