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Japan is the only G-7 country that is not a
signatory to the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects
of International Child Abduction. Japan is one of the top
three destination countries for parental child abduction
cases. The Department is currently tracking 79 cases which
involve over 100 American children, numbers which continue to
grow significantly from year to year. As recently as 2005,
the Department was aware of only 11 cases. The Department is
aware of no case where an American child has ever been
returned from Japan to the United States as a result of
actions by the Japanese government or Japanese courts to
enforce U.S. court orders, arrest warrants of parental child
kidnappers, or shared custody or visitation arrangements.
Asked about the effectiveness of the World Food
Program in Korea, Kato replied that refugees consistently
tell the same story, that the people who receive the food are
first the military, second the Korean Workers Party, and
third, government workers. "When normal people try to get the
food, they are forcibly kept away from the distribution
points," he said. Asked if recent arrivals are aware of Kim
Jong-Il's health situation, Kato replied, "Yes, they know,
but they don't really care about politics; their only concern
is food and survival."
Senior plant officials admitted to ESToff that the plant occasionally has problems with fisherman coming close to its shores given the fact that water temperatures are slightly higher near the NPP due to the plant's discharge water which leads to the growth of larger fish. When this occurs, plant security usually gets on a loud horn and warns the fishermen to leave the restricted waters. In addition, thousands of sun seekers swim in the waters next to the plant, so it would be fairly difficult to immediately distinguish something out of the ordinary. These two facts combined made the Mihama NPP a good facility to hold the drill at. Officials also admitted to ESToff that the plant's intruder detection system often has false alarms due to wild boars and other animals encroaching into the area. On the day of the visit, ESToff spotted the typical police presence at commercial nuclear facilities -- a lightly armored police vehicle with up to six police officers -- some of them fast asleep.![]()
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