On May 11, DP President Katsuya Okada held a press conference at
the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan (FCCJ) in Tokyo, and
explained his views on the forthcoming visit of the U.S. President
to Hiroshima, the formation of the DP, Abenomics, the
revisions made to security-related legislation last year, and other
issues.
Firstly,
Okada commented on the news that President Obama would, on May 27,
become the first sitting U.S. President to pay a visit to the city
of Hiroshima, site of the atomic bombing, saying, “It is extremely
welcome news. I sincerely welcome the visit, since it will
create a huge opportunity for achieving a ‘world without nuclear
weapons’.” Okada added that he himself had continued to work
toward the goals of nuclear reduction and nuclear disarmament,
including during his time serving as Minister for Foreign Affairs,
and from this perspective he “hoped that President Obama’s visit to
Hiroshima would leave a significant impression, and be a great
influence on moving toward a ‘world without nuclear
weapons’.”
Okada
also touched on the founding of the DP, stating, “The Democratic
Party was formed out of a strong determination to create a party
capable of achieving changes of government. The Japan
Innovation Party and the Democratic Party of Japan joined together
to form the DP. With this move, the majority of the
opposition parties, with the exception of the Japanese Communist
Party, have joined together, and the situation where the opposition
parties ran candidates against each other in the same constituency,
thus handing the advantage to the LDP, has ended. My role as
party leader is first of all to create a political party that stops
the out-of-control Abe administration and that is capable of
becoming the ruling party in the near future.
Okada
also expressed the opinion that Abenomics had been a failure,
pointing out, “Three and a half years have passed and a conclusion
has now been reached. Around 80% of people do not feel that
the economy has recovered.” He stated that in response to
this it was necessary to proceed with policies that aimed for “a
society with few inequalities”, such as equal work for equal pay
and the enhancement of child-rearing assistance. Furthermore,
Okada stressed that the security legislation allowing the use of
the right to collective self-defence that had been passed forcibly
by the Abe administration last year was “an infringement of the
Constitution, and should be totally abolished.”
Asked by
a foreign reporter to identify the LDP’s greatest weaknesses, Okada
responded, “Changing the interpretation of the Constitution and
trying to destroy pacifism by revising the Constitution, as well as
the fact that Abenomics has failed to show results.” On
foreign policy differences with the LDP, Okada said that “We share
the opinion that the Japan-U.S. alliance is extremely important,
but Prime Minister Abe is antagonistic towards neighbouring nations
such as China and the Republic of Korea. This has started to
change recently, and he has been moving closer to the DP position.”
On Japan’s response to North Korea, Okada expressed the
following opinion: “North Korea has just finished a party congress,
but I feel that the total exclusion of foreign media is a sign of
Kim Jong-un’s weakness and lack of confidence. It is vital to
implement strict sanctions against North Korea and we have no
alternative but to try to influence events by continuing to
thoroughly implement such sanctions.”