The Yomiuri Shimbun
The feud between Defense Minister Yuriko Koike and Administrative Vice Defense Minister Takemasa Moriya showed no sign of abating Wednesday, with Koike expressing her dissatisfaction over the Prime Minister's Office's decision to delay a settlement on the issue of whether Moriya should remain in his post, or be replaced in line with Koike's wishes.
"The minister [Koike] should properly take leadership in putting the current situation under control," Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters on the day, expressing his concern over the dispute within the ministry.
"I'm very worried about a possible weakening of morale within the ministry. We would be fulfilling our responsibility to defend the people by resolving [the personnel matter] early," Koike said at a press conference after the day's Cabinet meeting, voicing her strong dissatisfaction with the Prime Minister's Office's decision to delay the matter until the Cabinet reshuffle Abe plans for Aug. 27.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki told Koike on Monday that the next defense minister, who will be appointed in the Cabinet reshuffle, will decide on personnel matters within the Defense Ministry, including how to deal with the question of who should hold the administrative vice minister post.
Koike reportedly wants to stay on as defense chief.
She maintains she followed procedure in handling the personnel issue, saying, "I made no mistakes in the procedure."
She also indicated her lack of trust in Moriya, saying: "In the past, I contacted him via cell phone, but didn't get a response until the next morning. I wonder whether that's all right from the viewpoint of crisis management."
It was reported last week that Koike plans to replace Moriya with Tetsuya Nishikawa, the chief of the ministry's secretariat, as of Sept. 1.
Moriya reportedly was surprised to have read about his planned replacement in a newspaper.
On Wednesday, Shiozaki ignored Koike's dissatisfaction.
At a press conference, he said: "I've heard that Ms. Koike says it's all right to hold a panel meeting to decide the appointments after the Cabinet reshuffle.
"But what's more important is that we didn't officially receive documents [on the personnel reshuffle] from the vice minister."
A Prime Minister's Office panel comprising the chief cabinet secretary and three deputy chief cabinet secretaries examines preliminary plans on the appointment of senior officials for each ministry.
"The personnel examination panel was introduced to carry out personnel changes led by the Prime Minister's Office and lawmakers to prevent arbitrary and biased appointments by ministries and agencies," Shiozaki said.
His comment indicated his concern that the procedure Koike took was inappropriate and runs counter to the Prime Minister's Office-led decision-making system.
Meanwhile, Moriya met with Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Junzo Matoba at the Prime Minister's Office on the day.
"Her way of suddenly telling me about my resignation late at night by cell phone obviously isn't a normal procedure," he was quoted by a government official as saying.
Some ministers have been critical about Moriya's response. Finance Minister Koji Omi said, "It's strange for a person who is subject to a personnel reshuffle to complain about it."
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Minister to visit Pakistan, India
The Defense Ministry announced Wednesday Koike will leave Tuesday for Pakistan and India to meet with the leaders of the two neighboring countries.
In Pakistan, Koike is scheduled to meet with President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and Defense Minister Rao Sikandar Iqbal, among others, and tell them the Japanese government will do its best to extend the Antiterrorism Law in the autumn extraordinary Diet session, ministry officials said.
In India, she plans to meet with Defense Minister A. K. Anthony and other leaders to discuss the promotion of defense exchanges, they said.
(Aug. 16, 2007)
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