DPJ trying to shape Cabinet lineup following coalition accord

TOKYO, Sept. 10 Kyodo -
On the heels of a coalition agreement with two minor parties, the Democratic
Party of Japan on Thursday was trying to shape its Cabinet lineup with less
than a week left before the launch of a coalition government.
Shizuka Kamei, who leads the People's New Party, one of the DPJ's coalition
partners, on Thursday indicated an interest in taking up the post of internal
affairs and communications minister, who will oversee postal-related
operations, as the PNP has called for a series of postal privatization reforms
to be reviewed.
Mizuho Fukushima, leader of the Social Democratic Party, the DPJ's other
coalition partner, is hoping to take up a ministerial post in charge of
employment issues. The SDP has called for an improvement in labor conditions
battered by the financial crisis and a raft of reforms.
DPJ President Yukio Hatoyama, who has the final say on appointments, is
expected to decide on the broad outline of the lineup by the end of this week
as he is looking to launch his Cabinet soon after parliament votes him in as
Japan's next prime minister at a special session next Wednesday.
''I received their requests, and will make my decision after looking at the
whole picture,'' Hatoyama told reporters in the evening.
DPJ Supreme Adviser Hirohisa Fujii has been floated as a possible candidate for
the post of finance minister.
Others such as the party's Policy Research Committee chief Masayuki Naoshima,
deputy policy chief Akira Nagatsuma, Vice President Seiji Maehara, and Deputy
Secretary General Yoshihiko Noda are also likely to become members of the
Cabinet.
Two former policy chiefs, Yukio Edano and Yoshito Sengoku, have also come up as
candidates for Cabinet ministers.
By possibly bringing into the Cabinet the two lawmakers, who distance
themselves from former party President Ichiro Ozawa, Hatoyama would apparently
be wanting to highlight the party's solidarity amid speculation that the DPJ
may remain in a dual power structure between himself and Ozawa, who holds
strong clout within the party and is set to become its new secretary general
next week.
Also on Thursday, Hatoyama said the new government will look into a purported
Japan-U.S. secret pact allowing U.S. military vessels carrying nuclear weapons
to stop over in Japan.
''We would like to reveal the facts to the public'' when the investigation
confirms them, Hatoyama told reporters.
Earlier in the day, Hatoyama told Japanese Communist Party leader Kazuo Shii
that the new government will carry out the investigation, according to DPJ
Secretary General Katsuya Okada who was at the meeting.
The Japanese government has denied the existence of such a bilateral pact
because it would contradict the country's nonnuclear principles of not
possessing, producing or allowing nuclear weapons on its territory. But several
former government officials have made comments hinting at the existence of such
a pact.
The secret deal was allegedly struck by the two countries when revising the
Japan-U.S. security treaty in 1960. Under the deal, Tokyo gave tacit approval
for stopovers by U.S. military aircraft and vessels carrying nuclear weapons,
though the treaty stipulates that Washington must hold consultations with Tokyo
before bringing nuclear weapons into Japan.
On the Cabinet lineup, Hatoyama has already said he has decided to appoint DPJ
Acting President Naoto Kan as minister in charge of the planned National
Strategy Bureau, a policymaking bureau to lay out budgets and basic policies,
Okada as foreign minister and Hatoyama's top aide, Hirofumi Hirano, as chief
Cabinet secretary.
Ozawa, who currently serves as acting president in charge of election
campaigning, will decide on DPJ leadership appointments.
==Kyodo