Cablegate: Media Reaction - Six-Party Talks - Tokyo

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UNCLAS TOKYO 000426

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR I/RF, PA/PR/FPC/W, IIP/G/EA, EAP/PD, R/MR,
EAP/J, EAP/P, PM;
USTR FOR PUBLIC AFFAIRS OFFICE;
TREASURY FOR OASIA/IMI;
SECDEF FOR OASD/PA;
CP BUTLER OKINAWA FOR AREA FIELD OFFICE;
PACOM HONOLULU FOR PUBLIC DIPLOMACY ADVISOR

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: OIIP KMDR KPAO JA
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION - SIX-PARTY TALKS - TOKYO

LEAD STORIES: Wednesday morning's liberal Mainichi front-
paged a rise of calls among senior ruling party officials
for the resignation of Health, Labor, and Welfare
Minister Yanagisawa, who caused a stir by calling women
"baby-making machines" during a recent speech.

1. "Six-Party Talks: North Korea Has No Choice But to
Denuclearize" The top-circulation, moderate Yomiuri
editorialized (1/31): "At the next round of the six-party
talks, which are to resume on February 8 in Beijing, will
there be any concrete progress that will lead to North
Korea's denuclearization? The chief US and DPRK
negotiators held a three-day meeting in Berlin the week
before last. We presume that the US strongly urged the
North to move forward on scrapping its nuclear ambitions.
The question is how Pyongyang will react in the six-party
forum. Considering its past record, there is little
reason to be optimistic.... There are concerns that the
North Koreans may adopt the ploy of agreeing to freeze
their nuclear program in return for the partial lifting
of US financial sanctions, which would enable them to
resume making nuclear weapons any time they please.... If
North Korea does not move forward on denuclearization at
the talks, members of the international community will
have to join hands to ratchet up the pressure. The UNSC
sanctions resolution would serve as an important basis
for doing so."

SCHIEFFER

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