1.      Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Ban Ki-moon, had telephone talks with Minister for Foreign Affairs 
of Japan, Yoriko Kawaguchi, on September 13, for discussions on the recent incidents involving the ROK's 
nuclear-related experiments and the Six-Party Talks on the North Korean nuclear issue.

2.      Regarding the recent incidents involving the ROK's nuclear-related experiments, Minister Ban stressed 
that the ROK government voluntarily reported them to the IAEA and is fully cooperating with the IAEA for an 
objective and transparent inquiry into the matter, and reaffirmed that these experiments are completely 
irrelevant to enrichment or reprocessing program for developing nuclear weapons.  Minister Ban asked the 
Japanese government for its active cooperation at such opportunities as the IAEA Board of Governors' 
Meeting so that this issue can be handled in a balanced manner.

3.      In response, Minister Kawaguchi expressed her understanding of the ROK government's position, and 
said that she will have the Japanese delegation participating in the IAEA Board of Governors' Meeting 
maintain close consultations with the ROK delegation.  She also expressed her hope that this issue would 
be resolved at an early date through cooperations between the ROK government and the IAEA in the most 
transparent manner so that this issue would not affect the ROK's reliability on its determination of 
denuclearization.

4.      The two ministers shared the view that this issue is irrelevant to the Six-Party Talks on the North 
Korean nuclear issue, and agreed to maintain close consultations to hold the fourth round of the Six Party 
Talks at an early date.  In addition, Minister Ban explained that no evidence has been discovered yet that the 
recent explosion in Ryanggang province, North Korea, is related in any way to a nuclear experiment.

5.      Minister Ban and Minister Kawaguchi agreed to meet at the opportunity of the UN General Assembly, 
scheduled to be held in New York in September, and discuss issues of mutual interest.

6.      Following his telephone talks with Minister Kawaguchi, Minister Ban also plans to have telephone talks 
with US Secretary of State, Colin Powell, and Chinese Foreign Minister, Li Zhaoxing, to discuss the ROK's 
nuclear-related experiments and the Six-Party Talks on North Korea's nuclear issue.

                                                                      Spokesperson of MOFAT

* unofficial translation