Aug 27 03:25 AM US/EasternTOKYO, Aug. 27 (AP) - (Kyodo) — Veteran lawmaker Masahiko Komura was given the post of defense minister on Monday in returning to the mainstream of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.
Komura, the 65-year-old head of a small LDP faction, has held various key party and Cabinet posts but was forced out of the mainstream and held no posts after he lost in an LDP leadership election in 2003 to then Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.
Komura, a former lawyer, managed to work his way back to the mainstream in April when he had a meeting with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and promised to fully cooperate with him.
He served as Economic Planning Agency chief under Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama, state foreign secretary under Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto, foreign minister under Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi and justice minister under Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori.
He is said to be well-versed in diplomacy, having served as foreign minister twice under Obuchi.
He became head of the tiny faction in 2000, succeeding Toshio Komoto as faction chief.
Komura, a lawyer, was first elected to the House of Representatives in 1980 and has been elected nine times in total.
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