Intl media give little coverage to speeches

The Yomiuri Shimbun

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda speaks to a diminishing audience at the U.N. General Assembly on Friday, immediately after an address by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

NEW YORK--Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's speeches at the United Nations were barely covered by the Western media, although the event gave Noda the chance to promote his government's policy shift on nuclear power.

Noda's speech made at the U.N. General Assembly on Friday came right after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' address requesting Palestine be recognized as a separate state. Many audience members left the venue after Abbas finished speaking because the issue was considered one of the conference's main topics.

In addition to announcing Japan's willingness to participate in the U.N. peacekeeping operations in South Sudan, Noda also offered thanks for the global help with reconstruction efforts after the Great East Japan Earthquake.

He also expressed Japan's determination to overcome the disaster and the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.

An earlier speech made at a high-level U.N. meeting on nuclear safety and security on Thursday was meant to clearly indicate Japan would continue to use nuclear power, but with more thorough safety measures in place. The speech was also meant to advise of his government's shift from the Kan administration, which wanted to reduce the nation's dependency on nuclear power.

Noda's Friday speech was intended to send the same message.

However, soon after Noda began speaking, the session chairman began banging his gavel. He was trying to quiet audience members, many of whom stood up and began to exit noisily as soon as Abbas' address was over.

Noda smiled wryly but then continued to speak.

"[Noda] intended to show Japan would contribute to the global use of nuclear power, unlike the previous government of [Naoto] Kan. But the timing [of his speech] was unfortunate," a government source close to Noda said.