Upcoming Visit to Korea, Japan and the Philippines

 Real Audio of Briefing 

Copyright (c)2002 by Federal News Service, Inc., 620 National Press Building, Washington, DC 20045, USA.   For information on subscribing to the FNS Internet Service, please email Jack Graeme at info@fnsg.com or call (202) 824-0520.

       COL. MACHAMER: Good morning, and welcome to the Foreign Press Center. We're pleased to have with us again the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Richard Myers, who will be departing shortly on a trip to Japan, Korea and the Philippines, and is here to talk to us about that today.

       And with that, welcome again, General. Glad to have you.

      GEN. MYERS: Colonel Machamer, thank you very much for the introduction. And good morning, everybody.

       I'm here today, as the Colonel said, to discuss the upcoming trip to Asia. I will visit the Philippines, Japan and Korea over the next week or so. This will be my first opportunity to visit your nations, represented here by some of the media, as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, although I have served, as some people are familiar, several tours in Asia on previous assignments.

       I had scheduled a much earlier trip to the region and had planned on going during the first two months of my tenure as chairman, but the terrorist attack and our subsequent response to that attack on the World Trade Center forced me to postpone the trip.

       As a Pacific nation, the U.S. is inextricably linked to Asia. For generations now our governments have understood that we share a fundamental interest in economic and national security. Our cultures, societies, and our way of life depends on an atmosphere of peace and cooperation. The attack of September 11th threatens directly that peace and the prosperity it brings to all of us. As bastions of democracy and freedom, Japan, Korea and the Philippines are then, of course, threatened too.

       The strategic partners we work with in the Asia Pacific region have shown their interest in rooting out terrorism, and on my trip, I will thank the leadership and the people of your nations for their continued support and cooperation. Our respective countries have common goals -- freedom and a secure and prosperous future. All these can be achieved if we work together to ensure no one can destroy those ideals or threaten the freedoms our people enjoy today.

       With that, I'll take your questions.

       COL. MACHAMER: As a reminder, please wait for the microphone and identify yourself by name and news organization. Thank you.

       GEN. MYERS: Yes, sir.

       Q I am Satoru Suzuki with TV Asahi of Japan. General, in Japan the cabinet of Prime Minister Koizumi recently have made to the Diet the proposed legislation to give more power to the prime minister and the self defense forces to cope with any foreign military attack. Now, based upon your own experience of serving as the commander of U.S. forces in Japan, how important and useful it'll be for Japan to have such legislation enacted for the defense of Japan itself as well as the -- keep peace and stability in East Asia?

       And secondly, are you still interested in asking the Japanese self defense forces to send an Aegis class destroyer to the Indian Ocean or the gulf region for the current or any future operation?

       GEN. MYERS: On the overall question, let me say I am familiar with the legislation that you mentioned, but I have not examined it in detail. And a fundamental principle that we have to live with here I think that is very important is that whatever decision Japan makes will be Japan's decision, because it's clearly an issue of Japan's laws, Japan's constitution, and Japan's sovereignty.

       Having said that, I think the security environment we're in here in the 21st century, we knew it was going to be very different from the cold war that we've all come out of. I'm not sure we knew how different it was going to be until September 11th. And on September 11th I think we got a glimpse into how difficult at least the beginning of this century can possibly be. All of us, the Philippines, Japan and Korea and the United States, all lost people in the World Trade Center attack. Japan has some experience with some terrorism, and I think back to my time in Tokyo, I think it was '95 when there was an attack on the subway by Aum Shinrikyo using sarin gas.

       So the question is, do we need to change to accommodate a threat that is changing? In '95, sarin gas was used in Tokyo, and in 2001 airliners were used to attacks buildings. We know for sure that terrorist groups are very interested in other weapons of mass destruction: chemical and biological and even nuclear.

       We know that for certain -- that if they could get their hands on more devastating weapons of mass destruction, they certainly would, and they would not hesitate to use 'em.

       So I think in that context -- I think it's fair for countries like Japan to review how they would respond to these threats to their security, and, as I talked about in my opening remarks, that security that's so essential for the peace and the prosperity of our people. We are -- so it's very, very important. And I'll leave it to Japan to decide what the right answer is, but I'm -- I think you get the idea that I believe we need to fundamentally re-examine how we're organized and to deal with this threat.

       The other piece that goes hand in glove with this -- and you know this as well as I do -- is that we're all linked so tightly. So if the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon have an economic, as they did, impact on the United States, that impact is felt not just in the United States; that impact is felt in Japan. It's felt in all the modern world and most of the world, for that matter. Likewise, if there were to be an attack in Japan, that would have an impact on the United States and other countries, as well in the rest of the Asia-Pacific region. So we are tied together in many, many ways -- economically -- and as I said in the remarks again, certainly it was a vision to the future, where we want our people to be prosperous, to -- we want peace to prevail so we can raise our children and hopefully our grandchildren in a world that's different today.

       So but that -- that's a long answer to the question, but I think the Japanese government's taking a very serious look at that, and I think that's appropriate. I think that's very --

       Oh, destroyers. I'm sorry. Yes. I'll have to check. I do not -- I know we very much appreciate what the self-defense forces have done for our war on terrorism. They have provided some refueling for our ships at no cost. They have provided some Aegis ships -- well, they've provided some ships to defend part of our operation, so we can send ships to other areas, and I'll have to check to see what has been agreed between our Central Command and Pacific Command and the government of Japan. I do now that -- I don't know if they're going to be required in the future, and for how long. I just don't have that information at my fingertips.

       Yes, sir.

       Q Michael Lavalley (sp) with Tokyo Broadcasting System.

       I have a question regarding the ship that Japan sunk in the China Sea last year, thinking that it was a North Korean ship. There have been some reports that have said that the United States -- Pentagon and some other agencies have information, both photos and satellite images that prove that this was a North Korean ship. I was wondering if you had any information on the existence of such images. And if there are such images, why haven't they been released?

       GEN. MYERS: I have not -- I have no knowledge of any such images, and that could be for lots of reasons. I mean, nobody has brought those to me.

       They may exist, I don't know. I mean -- so I have not seen them, and therefore, I can't answer the second part of your question. But I just -- I haven't -- I'm not aware of them.

       All the information I have seen on this in the reporting was that the incident was as it was described. But I haven't seen pictures.

       Yes, sir?

       Q Good morning, General.

       GEN. MYERS: Good morning.

       Q I'm with NHK, Japanese television. Would you share with us your military point of view on the Kim Jong Il regime of the North Korea? A couple of years ago, they promised to refrain from additional ballistic missile test launch by 2003. So do you still believe in them?

       GEN. MYERS: Well, I think when you talk about North Korea you have to be worried about several things. One of them are the missiles that you talked about. Not only are they developing missiles, and longer- and longer-range missiles, to today where they have, certainly, missiles that will go intercontinental, intercontinental- range missiles, but the other point is that they're willing to proliferate that technology to just about anybody that has the money to pay for it. And so it's likely it could fall into hands of folks who would not be responsible for their use. So that's one aspect.

       We also know that North Korea has and develops weapons of mass destruction, and that is a concern as well, particularly when you think about use in the region, either on the peninsula, and you have to think with Japan being so close, that would be a concern. And also the willingness to proliferate as well. So --

       And then the third concern I think we have with North Korea is the fact that they still have 1.1 million men under arms, a lot of them very close to the demilitarized zone, and that they exercise regularly and in a fairly robust manner. And so that is a concern as well.

       So it's the missiles, the missile technology, weapons of mass destruction, to include chemical, biological and nuclear; and then, of course, a large-standing army very close to the DMZ that could destabilize the peninsula very quickly. So when I think of North Korea, those are the concerns we have with -- in strict military terms.

       And then you overlay that with a regime that has been very repressive on its people, the reports of starvation and so forth out of North Korea. I think we're all aware -- and many countries, including the United States and Japan, spend considerable resources to provide food aid to North Korea -- that it's an unsettling situation and that that part of Asia-Pacific would be a lot more stable if you had a stable government in North Korea.

       Yes, sir.

       Q General, Jim Garamone (sp), AFPS.

       What are you going to do in the Philippines? Are you going to meet with the U.S. troops that are there?

       GEN. MYERS: I'm going to do several things. We start in Manila, and I'll meet with -- right now I think it's set up to meet with the president, the minister of Defense and my counterpart and, of course, the embassy team -- the ambassador and the embassy team, the country team. And we will go from there down south to make some troop visits, as well. So it's -- we're going to do as much as we can do in, I think, a little bit over a day in the Philippines.

       Of course, one of the primary purposes there will be to thank them for their work on the war on terrorism, as well as to get feedback on how our training assistance with the Philippine Armed Forces and how our advice is being perceived and taken and so forth and to get some feedback on that, which I think will all be very good. But I haven't been there. I know Admiral Blair has just been there and provided some feedback to me, and I will talk to him again before I go in, but I think -- that's, of course, one of the reasons I'm going.

       Yes, ma'am.

       Q My name is Chiako (ph) Sato, of the Mainichi Newspaper of Japan.

       And May 15th is 30th anniversary of Okinawa's return to Japan. Several days ago, the U.S. troops stationed in Okinawa were deployed to the Philippines, in order to support the war on terrorism. Some local people in Okinawa are concerned that Okinawa will become the front-line base of the war on terrorism in Asia. Do you have any comment for the people in Okinawa regarding this issue?

       GEN. MYERS: By the way, I was there -- I'm old enough to have been there when Okinawa reverted from U.S. to Japanese control. In fact, I had a daughter born before reversion and a daughter born after reversion, and as you look through the paperwork -- birth certificates and so forth -- very different procedures.

       It is correct that the Marine engineers and a Marine security detachment that just recently was asked by the Philippines to come to the Philippines was from Okinawa. I don't think that act by itself increases the risk to the Okinawan people or to Japan as a whole. I don't think that's correct. I will go back to my earlier comments -- that on this war on terrorism, we're all in this together.

       And it's -- and it's -- it's not a situation where you can elect not to be part of it. We're all part of it. We're all vulnerable. If you look at, again, the economic impact on the United States of the attacks on the World Trade Center, it didn't just impact the United States. I'm sure you can trace that back, and you can see the impact on the Japanese economy, because if our economy is down -- fewer imports, you can see the impact on Canada and Mexico for sure, very large trading partners. But when Japan's economy is down on the mainland, that hurts the Okinawan economy, it hurts government revenues, and on and on -- on and on it goes. So we are linked in a way that -- and have been for quite some time in this world where this is not something, in my opinion, that you can sit on the sidelines and watch and hope not to be part of.

       Having said that, I am quite aware, having served in Japan on two occasions, one time on the island of Okinawa, about how important it is that the United States armed forces make every effort to be good guests in Japan and on Okinawa. And we have a large force presence there, as everybody knows. In '96 we made some agreements to work through a process that would try to diminish the impact that U.S. forces have on the Okinawan people and the so-called SACO process -- Special Action Committee for Okinawa. We're still working through those items. And we will continue to do that in good faith because we actually want to minimize the impact that we have, our presence has on the Okinawan people. But I don't think the action you've mentioned, sending engineers to the Philippines, is going to make the Okinawan islands or the people of Okinawa a special target for terrorism.

       Yes, sir.

       Q I'm from Nikei, Japan Economic Journal. One year will be -- one year has passed since Koizumi administration emerged, but recently a favorable rate to the Koizumi regime is declining very rapidly, and also Japan has suffering the serious economic problem. And to your opinion, how do you assess these kind of -- this situation's impact, what kind of impact is to bring to security or stability in the region?

       GEN. MYERS: Well, this is getting way outside my lane, if I was going to comment on Prime Minister Koizumi's popularity or the economic situation in Japan.

       Obviously, from an economic standpoint, a prosperous -- any nation that is prosperous and has a good economy can better provide for its security. And so it's important that Japan have a strong economy.

       Having said that, let me just say that the United States is, from a military point of view, is very happy with what Japan has done for the war on terrorism -- as I mentioned, the refueling of our ships done at no cost to the United States government, providing ships to provide defense and security for our forces while our ships can go do other things.

       The Japanese response to the situation in East Timor has been very, very useful. And I think the work going on by the Self-Defense Forces right now are appropriate. And I look forward to having those discussions when I'm in Japan.

       Yes, sir?

       Q Jun Lee (ph) from the Joong Ilbo, Korean newspaper. General, let me ask about Camp Yongsan in Seoul City. As you know, Camp Yongsan is located in center of the Seoul City, so it is making a lot of environment and traffic problem right now. There are a lot of Korean people are complaining about it also. So the talk between the U.S. government and Korean government is about moving and relocate Camp Yongsan is ongoing right now, but it doesn't make any result yet. So when you visit Seoul Korea, do you have any plan to talk about it?

       GEN. MYERS: My guess is that will be one of the things we probably will talk about. I haven't seen the specific agenda yet, but I'd be surprised -- first of all, I need to learn -- I mean, I know about the situation, I know about -- I thought that our two governments have -- my understanding is we've reached a way ahead on that and we agree on the principles. And having been to Yongsan several times, I understand the issues, I think, concerning that, and I look forward to having those discussions when we get to Korea. I would imagine that would be part of what we talk about, absolutely.

       Q I'm Hiro with the Nippon Television. My question is very simple. Do you have any expectations for Japan's contribution to the ongoing war against terrorism?

       GEN. MYERS: Well, it's -- as I think we said from the beginning, this will be up to Japan, it will be up to the other countries as part of our coalition. I think we have over 80 countries now that contribute in different ways. Some contribute forces, some contribute forces that are actually on the ground inside Afghanistan. Others contribute in ways that they can; sometimes it's better intelligence or information sharing, and so forth.

       And we're all in this coalition together. So this will be up to the government of Japan to decide how it wants to continue to contribute. My only expectations are that Japan will continue to play a role as it sees fit. And that's without -- I won't be definitive about that, because I can't. This is a decision that Japan has to make. I will just say we're very thankful for the contribution so far.

       Yes, sir?

       Q Michael Lavalley (sp) again from Tokyo Broadcasting. One, I was wondering if you could give us a little bit more of an outline on your trip -- what days you'll be in which country, and so on and so forth, if that's possible. And two, on North Korea, you had mentioned that North Korea's work on ballistic missiles continues, and research and development, but I was wondering if there are any signs that a missile test might be coming in the future. Has there been any movement in that area?

       GEN. MYERS: On the -- on the itinerary, I can't be much more specific. I will say that one of the things that I will do in Korea, and then leaving that region and going to Hawaii, will be to participate in the change-of-command ceremony for General Tom Schwartz, who is the current United Nations Commander and Combined Forces Commander in Korea, and I will participate in Hawaii in change- of-command of Admiral Denny Blair, who leaves his post as the commander of United States Pacific Command.

       On North Korean missiles, I think that would be getting into some intelligence matters that I can't really talk about in this forum, so I'll just --

       Q Any movement in that area?

       GEN. MYERS: I would say in -- let me just -- I think I just better leave it at this.

       Q This?

       GEN. MYERS: Work continues. I'll just say that. And how imminent something is, I can't comment on. But work continues; we know that for sure.

       Yes, sir?

       Q (Inaudible) -- Choi (sp) from South Korea, the Munhwa Broadcasting. I would like to follow up the Yongsan military compound. When do you expect the military compound relocation deal could be settled and you will talk about the exact date of that deal? And secondly, the Bush administration raised the conventional weapons issue last June, and whenever the issue was raised, North Korea demand the pullout of U.S. troops in South Korea. What is your position on that issue?

       GEN. MYERS: On the first part, in terms of Yongsan, I'm not in the middle of those negotiations. That's being handled by our country team and ambassador and General Schwartz in country, and all I would hope to do is become better informed about that during my visit. So I don't think -- my visit will not be directly tied to that issue.

       But the question was, "Do you think it'll come up in the agenda?" I think it will come up, and we'll talk about it, and it'll be a way to make sure that I'm better informed, so I'll have an understanding back here, when the issue comes back to Washington, to be able to provide advice to Secretary Rumsfeld and others.

       On the other issue, on conventional weapons, can you --

       Q (Off mike.)

       GEN. MYERS: I don't quite understand what -- are you talking about U.S. forces on the peninsula and --

       Q (Off mike) -- the conventional weapons issue raise to North Korea demand the pullout of U.S. troops in the peninsula.

       GEN. MYERS: Ah.

       Q So what do you think about -- how do you manage to deal with North Korea on conventional issue?

       GEN. MYERS: Well, I -- there are no -- I mean, there are enough -- there are no current plans to change our posture on the peninsula at all. And certainly the security situation there I don't think lends itself to that. There are a lot of things that would have to happen before you could reduce -- substantially reduce your security presence. There'd have to be some confidence-building measures with North Korea, for instance, to ensure that that very large army just north of the DMZ does not have the intent to come south and that the artillery that's in the mountains north of Seoul isn't going to start firing on Seoul. I mean, there's some really important things you'd want to do in terms of confidence building before you would look for a realignment of forces.

       So I -- that comment by North Korea will have no impact on our force posture.

       Yes, ma'am?

       Q Jiako Sato (sp) of the Mainichi Shimbun. The unified command plan says the area of PACOM, Pacific COM, will be a little changed. It will include the Antarctica and far eastern part of Russia, and -- but will lose the West Coast of the United States. What does that mean? Would you explain the new area of the PACOM in more detail?

       GEN. MYERS: Sure, I'd be happy to. I don't -- in the unified command plan, there was no reference to the West Coast of the United States in the unified command plan that I'm aware of.

       But in terms of Russia, Russia was a country that was not -- that was, as we say, unassigned to a unified commander. And the decision was to assign Russia to the European Command because of the proximity of Moscow and the headquarters of that command, which is in Stuttgart, Germany.

       At the same time, recognizing that Russia is a very large country and the impact that it has -- the far east military district has on Asia Pacific region, PACOM was given sort of a role to engage and work primarily with the military leadership in that part of Russia. So that was the idea.

       Like I said, it was previously unassigned, and now it's been assigned to EUCOM as the lead, with follow status by Pacific Command.

       On Antarctica there are logistics operations that the U.S. military conducts for the National Science Foundation in Antarctica, and it was felt that somebody just -- you had to have somebody administratively that would be responsible for the overall conduct of those operations, even though U.S. Transportation Command has the responsibility to provide the C-130s that go down there and provide that logistic support to the National Science Foundation. So it was merely an administrative issue.

       Q (Off mike.)

       GEN. MYERS: Oh, I'm sorry. Okay. If you were asking about the 500 miles off the West Coast, when we created the Northern Command for the defense of the United States, that included water out to a minimum of 500 miles off our shore because we needed that depth for defense against perhaps a ship that would be carrying a missile or cruise missiles, or whatever kind of threat you might have; we needed to have some defense in depth. We couldn't just have the boundary drawn right on the shore of the United States. So in that sense, there was some water that used to be in the Pacific Command's area of responsibility that now is in the Northern Command's area of responsibility. We did the same thing on the East Coast of the United States, and the area there goes out to a minimum of 500 miles as well.

       Yes, sir. Okay.

       Q Yes, my name is Patrick Gardner (sp) from the Tokyo Shimbun. And my question regards, will there be any discussions in Tokyo concerning Japanese contributions to the operations in the Philippines right now?

       GEN. MYERS: Not that I'm aware of, but anything could come up. But no, I'm not aware of anything specifically that will come up in that regard.

       Yes, sir?

       Q Why this time China is out of your itinerary? Do you have any trouble with the military-to-military relationship with them?

       GEN. MYERS: No. The only reason is that I can't be gone very long, and so the trip is specifically to these countries. As you know, we're working through our military-to-military relationship with China as we speak, and we have a reasonably good mil-to-mil relationship right now. We have some ship visits, we have one search- and-rescue exercise in Hong Kong, and then there are other exchanges at the academic level and other conferences in the Pacific. And we're looking at that right now; the secretary is reviewing all that to see what our strategy needs to be and where we take this in the future.

       Yes, sir?

       COL. MACHAMER: This will be the last question.

       Q Yes, Choe (sp) from South Korea's Munhwa Broadcasting. Next month, the World Cup soccer match will be held in South Korea and Japan. And the South Korean government is now working on antiterrorist strategy on the match. Can U.S. troops be supportive of their antiterror plan in the country?

       And secondly, the South Korean government has decided to purchase next generation of fighter jet from Boeing. How many fighters do you think could be sold to South Korea from Boeing?

       GEN. MYERS: On the first part, we are cooperating through General Schwartz's headquarters with the Korean government and Korean forces on security for the World Cup games, and we will cooperate in any way that the government of South Korea wants us to cooperate. I think we all have an interest in making sure that World Cup soccer match is as secure as it can be.

       We have some recent experience from the Winter Olympics in Utah, where there was a lot of cooperation among U.S. agencies for the security out there, and we'll be taking that knowledge and we've been working -- this is something -- this issue has been worked for now some time with the South Korean government, and we'll be full partners in security as they want it to be.

       Q How about in Japan -- (off mike)?

       GEN. MYERS: I don't have as much knowledge about that, but if we're asked, we will be at -- we'll do whatever we can do, I can guarantee you that.

       But I know for a fact, because I've been talking to General Schwartz about this in terms of World Cup soccer in Korea. We have been in on the planning for security on that for some time. So -- and in Japan, my guess is we have; I don't know. I can't answer that question.

       And on the F-15s, I forget the number that was announced. I think there was a number that went with the announcement and -- as I recall. I just don't recall what that number is, so I better not put one out here. I think the important thing about that selection is that with the very close relationship we've had with South Korean forces over time that this issue of being able to operate together is a very, very important principle. So from that standpoint, I'm pleased the South Korean government chose an aircraft that we're familiar with.

       Other than, thank you very much. Look forward to a good trip. Anybody want to come with me? (Laughter.) No. (Laughs.)

       COL. MACHAMER: Thank you

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