VZCZCXRO1803
PP RUEHFK RUEHKSO RUEHNAG RUEHNH
DE RUEHKO #3170/01 1590818
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 080818Z JUN 06
FM AMEMBASSY TOKYO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 3013
INFO RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEHAAA/THE WHITE HOUSE WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEAWJA/USDOJ WASHDC PRIORITY
RULSDMK/USDOT WASHDC PRIORITY
RUCPDOC/USDOC WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC//J5//
RHHMUNA/HQ USPACOM HONOLULU HI
RHHMHBA/COMPACFLT PEARL HARBOR HI
RHMFIUU/HQ PACAF HICKAM AFB HI//CC/PA//
RHMFIUU/COMUSJAPAN YOKOTA AB JA//J5/JO21//
RUYNAAC/COMNAVFORJAPAN YOKOSUKA JA
RUAYJAA/COMPATWING ONE KAMI SEYA JA
RUEHNH/AMCONSUL NAHA 9240
RUEHFK/AMCONSUL FUKUOKA 6623
RUEHOK/AMCONSUL OSAKA KOBE 9856
RUEHNAG/AMCONSUL NAGOYA 6556
RUEHKSO/AMCONSUL SAPPORO 7773
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 2691
RUEHUL/AMEMBASSY SEOUL 8864
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0655

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 07 TOKYO 003170 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR E, P, EB, EAP/J, EAP/P, EAP/PD, PA 
WHITE HOUSE/NSC/NEC; JUSTICE FOR STU CHEMTOB IN ANTI-TRUST 
DIVISION; TREASURY/OASIA/IMI/JAPAN; DEPT PASS USTR/PUBLIC AFFAIRS 
OFFICE; SECDEF FOR JCS-J-5/JAPAN, 
DASD/ISA/EAPR/JAPAN; DEPT PASS ELECTRONICALLY TO USDA 
FAS/ITP FOR SCHROETER; PACOM HONOLULU FOR PUBLIC DIPLOMACY 
ADVISOR; CINCPAC FLT/PA/ COMNAVFORJAPAN/PA. 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OIIP KMDR KPAO PGOV PINR ECON ELAB JA
SUBJECT:  DAILY SUMMARY OF JAPANESE PRESS 06/08/06 
 
 
INDEX: 
 
(1) North Korea admits presence of Kim Young Nam, will allows him 
to meet his mother 
 
(2) Three scenarios on GSDF withdraw from Iraq 
 
(3) 2006 LDP presidential race: Kochikai seems to be wanting; 
Aims to run unified candidate to get support from forces in favor 
of Abe 
 
(4) Post-Koizumi race: Researching Yasuo Fukuda (Part 2) "Modest 
and reserved person" gradually standing out 
 
(5) Collapse of money game -- arrest of former Murakami Fund 
president Murakami: He built a network of classmates graduating 
from elite schools during the period called the lost 10 years in 
Japan 
 
ARTICLES: 
 
(1) North Korea admits presence of Kim Young Nam, will allows him 
to meet his mother 
 
MAINICHI (Top play) (Excerpts) 
June 8, 2006 
 
Shoji Nishioka, Beijing; Akiko Horiyama, Seoul 
 
North Korea's Cabinet Counselor Kwon Hu Ung, chief negotiator in 
inter-Korea cabinet-level talks, yesterday revealed that he had 
sent a notification to his South Korean counterpart, Unification 
Minister Lee Jong Seok, telling him that North Korea has now 
confirmed the whereabouts of Kim Young Nam, who is believed 
likely to be the husband of Japanese abductee Megumi Yokota, 
according to the Korean Central News Agency. This is the first 
time for the North to admit to the presence of Kim Young Nam. 
North Korea stated that it would allow Kim to meet his mother, 
Choi Gye Wol, when she comes to North Korea as part of the family 
reunion project between North and South Koreans at Kumgangsan 
slated for June 19-30. 
 
According to South Korea's Yonhap News, the South Korean 
government intends to accept the North Korean proposal. Choi Gye 
Wol and her daughter and Kim's elder sister, Kim Yong Ja, praised 
North Korea's proposal at a news conference held in Seoul at 
11:30 a.m. today and indicated their intention to visit North 
Korea. The family reunion is expected to be the first since Kim 
Young Nam went missing in August 1978. 
 
The North's notification said: "We have decided to arrange a 
meeting, in view of love for our fellow people and taking the 
occasion of the sixth anniversary of the June 15 Declaration 
(North-South Korea Joint Declaration released on June 15)." At 
the same time, it demanded: "South Korea should take responsible 
steps not to cause any trouble regarding the planned meeting for 
the purposes of a family reunion." Pyongyang thus urged Seoul to 
refrain from taking action that would irritate North Korea. 
 
(2) Three scenarios on GSDF withdraw from Iraq 
 
ASAHI (Page 4) (Abridged slightly) 
June 8, 2006 
 
TOKYO 00003170  002 OF 007 
 
 
 
The government is endeavoring to determine a timetable for 
pulling Ground Self-Defense Force (GSDF) troops out of the 
southern Iraqi city of Samawah. But the Iraqi government is still 
devoid of interior and defense ministers. There has been no 
progress in the political process -- a condition for Japan's 
withdrawal -- and there are no bright prospects for transferring 
security duties to Iraq. It is also unclear what British and 
Australian troops will do. How is Prime Minister Junichiro 
Koizumi going to address the matter in his talks with US 
President George W. Bush later this month? Will he be able to 
issue a pullout order before stepping down at the end of 
September? 
 
A decision by the end of July for completing withdrawal before 
Koizumi's term of office expires 
 
Completing a withdrawal by the end of September is the best 
scenario for the government. Koizumi wants to put an end to the 
Iraq mission before stepping down from office. A withdrawal would 
reportedly take two months. In order to pull the 10th GSDF 
contingent in Iraq out of the country by the end of September, 
Koizumi needs to issue a withdrawal order by the end of July. 
 
But the realization of this scenario is conditioned on: (1) 
filling vacant Iraqi cabinet posts, such as interior and defense 
ministers; (2) a political decision in June to transfer security 
duties in Samawah to Iraqi authorities; and (3) a shift in July 
of British troops from Muthanna and other provinces to their base 
in Basra. 
 
If all conditions are met, Koizumi will formally announce a 
withdrawal before the Japan-US summit talks to allow the defense 
chief to issue an order to begin pulling out troops. The 
government will also consider sending additional personnel to 
help troops in Iraq pack and transport supplies for a speedy 
withdrawal. 
 
Once a GSDF pullout comes into sight, the government is likely to 
decide on expanded Air Self-Defense Force activities. 
 
On June 4, US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld asked defense 
chief Fukushiro Nukaga about the feasibility of an expanded ASDF 
airlift mission. Nukaga responded positively, apparently in a bid 
to underline Japan's continued commitment to Iraqi reconstruction 
even after ground troops leave the country. 
 
In compliance with requests from the US and the United Nations, 
the government is considering flying ASDF transport planes 
between Kuwait and Baghdad, Arbil and Baghdad, and Arbil and 
Kuwait. 
 
Transferring security duties a key to beginning withdrawal during 
Koizumi's tenure 
 
What would happen if Japan failed to complete a withdrawal in 
Koizumi's tenure? The focus would then shift to whether Japan can 
begin pulling out troops from Iraq in his tenure. 
 
The answer to this question hinges largely on the security 
situation in Iraq. 
 
In his talks in Singapore with American, British, and Australian 
 
TOKYO 00003170  003 OF 007 
 
 
officials in charge of national defense, Nukaga asked about the 
prospects of transferring security duties to Iraq. But they 
failed to give him clear-cut answers, with British State Minister 
for the Armed Forces Adam Ingram saying: "It is too early to 
discuss prospects. Security powers must be transferred at the 
right time. There is no need to hurry." 
 
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki declared a state of 
emergency on May 31 following what seemed to be a clash of Shiite 
forces in Basra. The situation in Iraq remains unpredictable. A 
roadside bomb also exploded on May 31 in Samawah as a GSDF 
motorcade passed by. In Baghdad, the death toll for the month of 
May was the worst since the end of the Iraq war. 
 
Given that the Iraqi government lacks interior and defense 
ministers is unlikely to be able to take on security duties, 
Koizumi may not be able to decide to pull out Japanese troops 
before stepping down. With its own midterm elections coming up in 
November, the US may also refuse an early transfer of security 
powers for fear of rushing the withdrawals of multinational 
forces. 
 
An announcement on not extending Iraq mission, leaving decision 
to Koizumi's successor 
 
A lack of concrete steps for British and Australian troops to 
leave Samawah given the chaotic security situation in Iraq would 
make it difficult for Koizumi to make a withdrawal announcement 
ahead of other countries. 
 
Many government officials still think that Koizumi will pave the 
way for a withdrawal in order to reduce the burden on his 
successor. Not extending the basic deployment plan beyond 
December 14 is also being mentioned. This would allow the 
government to effectively decide on a withdrawal. 
 
In this case, two conditions -- a transfer of security powers and 
the moves of multinational forces -- may not be met. Koizumi's 
successor would also be pressed to determine a timeline for 
withdrawal in just two months after assuming office. 
 
(3) 2006 LDP presidential race: Kochikai seems to be wanting; 
Aims to run unified candidate to get support from forces in favor 
of Abe 
 
ASAHI (Page 4) (Full) 
June 7, 2006 
 
Four leaders from the Niwa-Koga and Tanigaki factions and the 
Kono group got together on June 6 for the first time in five 
years and six months. The three groups are the successors to the 
former Miyazawa faction (called Kochikai). The aim of their 
meeting was to avoid becoming a hunting ground in the upcoming 
presidential election of the Liberal Democratic Party. They also 
want to run a unified candidate, who would be supported by forces 
not supporting Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe, if possible. 
However, they are undeniably bitter enemies. Whether the move 
will lead to reconstruction of the distinguished Kochikai is 
unknown. 
 
Yuya Niwa, co-leader of the Niwa-Koga faction, set up the 
meeting. Another co-leader, Makoto Koga, also attended the 
session. The four veteran politicians got together for the first 
 
TOKYO 00003170  004 OF 007 
 
 
time after the Kato rebellion in November 2000, in which Koichi 
Kato, a former LDP secretary general, called on then Prime 
Minister Yoshiro Mori to step down. 
 
Niwa said: "Junior and mid-level lawmakers have often held 
meetings in an amicable manner." He indicated that the active 
exchanges by the young and mid-level members brought about their 
meeting. 
 
The four participants had different motives for the meeting. The 
Niwa-Koga faction, which has no potential post-Koizumi contender, 
wants to field a unified candidate from "a grand Kochikai," if 
possible, to prevent its members from splitting in voting. 
 
Meanwhile, Niwa offered words of encouragement to Foreign 
Minister Taro Aso of the Kono group and Finance Minister Sadakazu 
Tanigaki, who heads his own faction, saying: "Both of you are 
enthusiastic about the fall leadership race. I as a fellow former 
faction member want you to do your best." Both Aso and Tanigaki 
belong to small factions that have about 10 members. Therefore, 
their support rates are low. If the three groups are merged 
again, a combined Kochikai will have a membership of about 70. 
They have this in mind. 
 
Former Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda, in second place in 
the post-Koizumi race, has yet to clarify his position. So, the 
prediction is that a Kochikai candidate will be able to obtain 
votes from the anti-Abe members if Fukuda does not run in the 
election. 
 
The four leaders have started considering policy objectives. In 
the meeting, they shared the view that Asia policy and the 
Yasukuni Shrine issue will unavoidably become major campaign 
issues in the LDP presidential race. 
 
Koga, who also chairs the Japan Association for the Bereaved 
Families of the War Dead, explained his proposal for Class-A war 
criminals to be unenshrined from Yasukuni. He told the three 
others: "I think a situation under which the Imperial family can 
visit should be created." 
 
Kochikai placed importance on Asia diplomacy. Chances are that a 
policy outline will be formed with the establishment of a study 
group comprising junior and mid-level members of the three 
factions and an exchange of views between the four leaders. They 
will likely to come up with a policy with Abe's hard-line stance 
toward China in mind. 
 
In a meeting of the Tanigaki faction later in the day, one member 
said, "Unless Mr. Tanigaki makes clear his policy, he won't be 
able to expand his support further, indicating that it would be 
difficult for the three groups to field a unified candidate even 
if Fukuda does not run. 
 
After the meeting, Aso said, "It was meaningful." Tanigaki 
stated, "We have decided to keep in touch." 
 
Koga, who was reluctant to hold a meeting said, "We got together 
to discuss a certain issue." The gap in their perspectives was 
clear. 
 
(4) Post-Koizumi race: Researching Yasuo Fukuda (Part 2) "Modest 
and reserved person" gradually standing out 
 
TOKYO 00003170  005 OF 007 
 
 
 
NIHON KEIZAI (Page 2) (Abridged slightly) 
June 7, 2006 
 
A friend of then Prime Minister Takeo Fukuda asked his young son 
Yasuo why he had become his father's private secretary. Yasuo 
replied: 
 
"It is important for everyone to decide on one's course of 
action. Is there anyone but me who can say to my father that it's 
time for him to quit? My role is to make him think about when he 
should retire so that his late years will not be left tarnished." 
A friend of the late Takeo Fukuda still remembers Yasuo's remark. 
He made it because he did not think he ever would want to become 
a politician. 
 
Masao Fukuda, the second son of Takeo Fukuda, was considered his 
father's successor, but he died in 1994. The second son was 
adopted into the Yokote family that runs a distinguished old 
Japanese inn in the hot-spring resort of Ikaho in Gunma 
Prefecture. Masao, however, became a secretary to Takeo Fukuda 
earlier than Yasuo Fukuda. 
 
Dislike politicians 
 
"I hate politicians; politics is third-rate work." Such were the 
views of Yasuo Fukuda, then a freshman in high school, when Takeo 
Fukuda was elected for the first time to the Diet. He had mixed 
feelings about his father becoming a politician. Seeing his 
father surrounded by newspaper reporters, he did not feel at all 
to be like his father. But after witnessing his father's hard 
work and great success, Yasuo gradually became interested in 
politics. 
 
In the spring of 1959, Yasuo Fukuda entered Maruzen Oil Co. He 
was placed mainly in charge of buying crude oil overseas. He 
reportedly found pleasure in occasionally stealing confidential 
information from government officials whom he got along with. 
After his company experienced the 1973 oil crisis, he keenly 
sensed the limits of being in the private sector and the 
importance of his country having a foreign policy. 
 
After quitting the oil company, for which he had worked for 17 
years, Yasuo Fukuda became a private secretary to his father one 
month before Takeo Fukuda assumed the prime minister's post. A 
senior member of Takeo Fukuda's support group in Gunma Prefecture 
told the new prime minister, "You now have your successor." Takeo 
Fukuda stared hard at the senior member for more than a minute. 
Realizing finally that the senior member was not just being 
polite, the prime minister smiled back at him. In the primary 
election for the 1978 Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) presidential 
race, Fukuda sought reelection but was defeated by Masayoshi 
Ohira, who was backed by Kakuei Tanaka. As a result, he dropped 
out of the race and stepped down from office, saying, 
"Occasionally, heaven's voice comes from a strange direction." A 
person close to Yasuo Fukuda said: "By that, he probably means 
Yasuo's voice. He must have secretly advised his father to 
resign." 
 
Waiting for all the arrangements 
 
Supported by his son, Takeo Fukuda was easily reelected with the 
top vote when he ran in the subsequent Lower House elections. But 
 
TOKYO 00003170  006 OF 007 
 
 
the time for generational change finally arrived. At a meeting in 
May 1989 of his father's support group, Yasuo Fukuda announced 
that he would run in his father's stead in the Lower House 
election. 
 
Local supporters were concerned about Yasuo Fukuda's modest and 
reserved personality, compared with his father, who was known for 
his combative spirit. Yasuo Fukuda, however, did not change his 
style. He refused to allow posters be used in the campaign in 
which he was seen as smiling. He was first elected to the Lower 
House in 1990 at the age of 50. 
 
Ten years after his Diet debut, Yasuo Fukuda was appointed chief 
cabinet secretary of the Mori government. He told his supporters, 
who called to congratulate him: "Young people dislike a 
roundabout way of saying things. We must speak frankly to them." 
His supporters thought the job of government spokesperson had 
changed the person. 
 
Supporters of Yasuo Fukuda are now wondering why he is no longer 
telling it straight. Perhaps he is waiting for all the pieces to 
fall in place. 
 
(5) Collapse of money game -- arrest of former Murakami Fund 
president Murakami: He built a network of classmates graduating 
from elite schools during the period called the lost 10 years in 
Japan 
 
YOMIURI (Page 38) (Full) 
June 8, 2006 
 
In the autumn of 1989, Yoshiaki Murakami, 46, was seen kneeling 
down on the floor in the reception room of Bungei Shunju 
Publisher at Kioicho, Tokyo. He was then 30 years old and in his 
seventh year at the Ministry of International Trade and Industry 
(MITI: now the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry). 
 
"Please do not publish it. Should it be published, I must resign 
my post," Murakami said. 
 
Kazuyoshi Hanada, 63, who was then editor in chief of the weekly 
magazine Shukan Bunshun, looked bewilderingly at such a Murakami, 
murmuring to himself: "I can't believe a young person like him is 
kneeling down on the floor before me." 
 
What Murakami begged Hanada not to publish was a 200-page story 
entitled, Horobiyuku Nippon (Falling Japan), which he had 
written. The main character of the story resembles Murakami 
himself. In the story, the hero played an important role in 
political circles but was assassinated before fulfilling his 
ambition, and this ushered in a period in Japan leading to 
political and economic collapse. Murakami at first planned to 
publish it as a book but just before deciding to do so, he was 
told by his supervisor to kill the manuscript. 
 
Murakami had no intention at the time to leave MITI. 
 
"He is friendly and has a lot of nerve to try various things. He 
is good at building a personal network." A former MITI official 
who worked together with Murakami at the ministry for 17 years 
portrayed Murakami that way. 
 
In order to buy a commuter pass at the lowest price, Murakami 
 
TOKYO 00003170  007 OF 007 
 
 
made every effort to find a cheap commuting route. On the other 
hand, when contemporaries at the ministry gathered for drinking, 
Murakami often paid for it. "He was spending money absurdly in 
order to buy friendship," a former colleague said, looking back 
on those days. 
 
Around 1996, Murakami had a hand as a senior researcher at the 
MITI Research Institute of International Trade and Industry in 
creating legislation to promote mergers and acquisitions among 
firms. He intently explained to co-workers: "I want to change the 
corporate climate toward stockholders." He was an active 
participant in study meetings to learn from corporate executives 
and scholars about the corporate systems. Through such study 
meetings, Murakami became acquainted with Orix Corp. CEO (now 
Chairman) Yoshihiko Miyauchi, 70, who offered a large investment 
to Murakami when he founded his fund management business. 
 
Murakami pursued an elite route from the Nada Junior/ Senior High 
School to Tokyo University's Law Faculty and then MITI. His 
personal network he fostered at each stage has underpinned his 
activities afterwards. 
 
Tsuyoshi Maruki, 46, who was a classmate in the junior and senior 
 
SIPDIS 
high school, was the right hand of Murakami at the Murakami Fund. 
Maruki was an expert on investment at Nomura Securities and 
served as deputy chief of that firm's Capital Market Department. 
At one point he was on loan to MITI for two years from 1987. In 
MITI Maruki was installed at the Industrial Policy Bureau where 
Murakami was working. The two renewed their old friendship. Kenya 
Takizawa, 45, a key officer in the Murakami Fund who started his 
career as a police official and then went on to be a management 
consultant and a political advisor at the US Embassy in Tokyo, 
was a classmate of Murakami at Tokyo University. 
 
Murakami's classmate network has now extended to include 
politicians, for instance, Koji Matsui, 46, a House of Councilor 
of the Democratic Party of Japan (Minshuto), who resigned his 
post at MITI to become a politician, and Yoshimasa Hayashi, 45, a 
House of Councilor belonging to the Liberal Democratic Party 
(LDP) who was a classmate at Tokyo University. 
 
One politician revealed: "I got acquainted with Mr. Murakami 
through a certain lawmaker and introduced to him a corporate 
manager who was willing to invest money in the Murakami Fund." 
Murakami began deepening friendship with Hiroshi Mikitani, 42, 
president of the Rakuten Internet moll operator through this kind 
of gathering with politicians. 
 
The Japanese economy was in a slump in the 1990s, following the 
burst of the economic bubble. This decade is called the lost 10 
years, during which Murakami fostered his personal network at 
MITI and acquired expertise on corporate structures and laws. 
Around then stock prices were falling to inconceivably lower 
levels, he thought. 
 
"It's the time to buy stocks. A rare chance has come." Looking 
back on those days, Murakami so remarked. 
 
Murakami was resolved to resign his post at MITI in his 30s, but 
in actually, he left MITI in July 1999, 11 days before his 40th 
birthday. 
 
SCHIEFFER