Ban Ki-moon impressed by Fukushima students

March 15, 2015

U.N. chief Ban says students in Fukushima impressed him

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/03/15/national/u-n-chief-ban-says-students-in-fukushima-impressed-him/#.VQV_j-F1Cos

JIJI

SENDAI – United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Sunday he was impressed by the high school students in Fukushima when he visited the disaster-hit prefecture four years ago.

The students had experienced such a terrible tragedy and some of them had lost their parents, some of their friends or their houses, Ban said.

“I wanted to show the world’s solidarity with the people of Fukushima. But the students here surprised me by showing their solidarity with the world,” he said.

“Now, I expected that these students would ask me, ask the United Nations, for help. But instead of asking for aid or material help, they asked me questions, ‘How could we work with the United Nations to help other people in other parts of the world just to avoid this kind of tragic disaster?’

“That really struck me and inspired me. I was truly moved,” Ban said at a symposium at Tohoku University in Sendai, held on the sidelines of the third U.N. World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction.

The international community and the United Nations are supporting Japan’s vibrant reconstruction from the quake, tsunami and nuclear crisis, Ban said at the symposium, joined by more than 1,000 university students and citizens.

“We cannot prevent natural disasters. This will be God’s will. But at least we can prepare ourselves how to minimize disaster risk. We can reduce disaster risk. This is the main purpose of our meeting in Sendai,” he said.

Thailand to ease rules

Thailand plans to ease import restrictions on Japanese food shortly, interim Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said Saturday in Sendai.

Prayuth made the comments during a meeting with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on the sidelines of the U.N. disaster risk conference in Sendai.

Abe asked Prayuth to abolish the restrictions introduced after the triple reactor core meltdown at Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. The meltdowns were triggered by the March 2011 earthquake when the resulting tsunami knocked out its cooling systems.

Noting Prayuth used the Tohoku Shinkansen Line to get to Sendai, Abe repeated that Japan wants to actively cooperate in railway infrastructure development in Thailand.

The two leaders also reaffirmed their countries will strengthen security cooperation through dialogue between their foreign and defense officials.

Disaster ministers meet

Disaster Management Minister Eriko Yamatani and her Chinese counterpart, Li Liguo, on Sunday each praised their respective anti-disaster efforts and agreed to continue them.

Li, civil affairs minister, is the first Chinese Cabinet minister to visit Japan since April 2012.

Relations between the two have been strained since Tokyo nationalized three of the Senkaku Islands, in the East China Sea, in September 2012. The islands are also claimed by Beijing and Taiwan.

The Yamatani-Li meeting is considered a further sign of improvement in bilateral ties after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Chinese President Xi Jinping held their first summit in November.

Also, for the first time in about four years, their senior foreign policy and defense officials are scheduled to attend a meeting Thursday.

Yamatani and Li met on the sidelines of the third U.N. World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in Sendai At a ministerial roundtable session held as part of the conference Sunday, Li expressed China’s positive stance toward global anti-disaster cooperation.