Excerpts from the 25 September Department of State Daily Press Briefing on the election of Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda and new sanctions on North Korean company producing missiles. Deputy Spokesman Tom Casey is responding to questions:

QUESTION: A new Japanese cabinet was formed today under the LDP leader Yasuo Fukuda and what are U.S. expectations of the new cabinet?

MR. CASEY: … We’ve been working together really across the full spectrum of international issues on everything from fighting terrorism and extremism in places like Afghanistan and Iraq, to working together to end the threat posed by North Korea’s nuclear program, to a variety of issues related to international development and security. So we look forward to continuing that relationship…

QUESTION: And just a follow-up. Prime Minister Fukuda is also known for his dove-like stance toward Korea and China. How does the U.S. feel about that? Do you feel that there’s going to be more stability also in the cabinet?

MR. CASEY: … I think that the fundamental interests of the Japanese Government remain the same; that includes our common interest in seeing an end to North Korea’s nuclear program…

[…]

QUESTION: In a few days time a new round of sanctions are going to go into effect on a North Korean entity. And while these are an extension of things that have come before and really nothing new, aren’t you afraid that with the timing right around the beginning of this round of six-party talks that the North Koreans might try to use this in some way to delay the process or make things harder?

MR. CASEY: Look, the sanctions that you’re referring to are related to missile technology transfers. The company that was sanctioned has been sanctioned previously for the same thing. So the net effect of this, while it’s unfortunate that this behavior continues, the net effect on this is really pretty minimal. I don’t see and I don’t think Chris sees any reason why this should impact on the six-party talks. Again, what we want to do, though, is get North Korea out of the nuclear business. We want to get them out of the missile business as well. And part of the reason for having these talks is to be able to address all these kinds of concerns as we move forward with the primary objective, which is denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula.